Say Cheese
by ProfessionallyCrazedNarutoFan
Summary: Snapshots of Sakura and Sasuke and Team Seven. Fluff, angst, humor, love, friendship. Based on the countdown-to-the-end SasuSaku marathon prompts found on tumblr. Prompt 25: Heartbeat. When the pain rips him apart, she pulls him back together.
1. Bonding Over Bento

**Date: **October 7th, 2014

**Pairing: **SasuSaku, Team 7-centric

**Prompt: **The Beginning

**Title:** Bonding Over Bento

**Summary: **History repeats itself.

**Disclaimer**: Naruto, not mine since 1999.

"...You..."

"Pass!"

Three sets of bewildered eyes stare down the older jounin.

Blackbluegreen.

Suspicion. Confusion. Amazement.

Two bento lay forgotten at their feet.

Kakashi does not yet know what lies in store for this team, only that they are the first. The first to see that they need each other, even if they don't particularly like each other. They are still a ragtag team of misfits, but now they are a _real_ team. And they are _his_ team. Maybe he is going senile early, but he swears they remind him of another team he used to know.

Sasuke does not think much of Kakashi's test, but he can see his point. He cannot kill Itachi, not yet. He needs these two, the dead-last and the annoyance, even if he doesn't want to. He needs this elite jounin sensei, even though he will waste dozens of hours of his precious time waiting for him to show up. He will leave them someday, he thinks, but he cannot yet calculate the collateral damage he will cause.

Naruto doesn't really know what just happened, but he is a shinobi now and his head has no room for anything else. He's going to be Hokage and Sakura-chan will be there beside him. Even that bastard Sasuke can't bring him down now. The whole world's going to know his name, dattebayo!

Sakura's heart is still pounding. There are three heady thoughts crowding in her mind and she is not sure what to feel first. Panic, because she has broken a rule. Pride, because she has earned the title of kunoichi. Excitement, because she gets to stay on the same team as Sasuke-kun. She allows herself a tremulous smile on the outside and a SHANNARO! on the inside, because this is the best day of her life.

The beginning of Team Seven.

.

.

.

"...You..."

"...fail."

Sakura giggles at the sight before her. It is familiar and yet different. Six years later, she is here at Team Seven's favorite training ground taking the bell test for the third time . And failing for the first. However, the warmth in her heart and the laughter in her throat have left her indifferent to their failure.

Her boys are home, _all of them_. Team Seven is reunited.

No matter how many tests they pass or fail, grateful will always be the first thing that she feels.

This attempt reminds her of their first in some ways. There was no teamwork. Naruto and Sasuke-kun immediately launched into an argument over who would take a bell from Kakashi first, and proceeded to fight each other instead of their old sensei. Sakura was left rolling her eyes and covering her face with her palm. She swears their rivalry makes the world go round.

In the end, Sakura is the only one to get a bell (with a well-placed harem no jutsu). Kakashi stands by, delicately covering his (bleeding) nose with a handkerchief. Her teammates are...indisposed. Naruto is once again suffering the ill effects of Kakashi's Sennen Goroshi technique, One Thousand Years of Death. Sasuke is the unlucky sap who is tied to the stump.

Sakura tilts her head and considers the Uchiha as she absentmindedly eats from her bento. They have all changed, but she thinks Sasuke's journey has been the farthest. He is still quiet and surly, and Sakura suspects this will never change. But he is...thoughtful now. Considerate. He listens to what they have to say (even if half of what Naruto says is about ramen and not worth hearing).

Uchiha Sasuke returned home willingly, leaning on the shoulder of his best friend, emptied of the rage that drove him for so many years. He is still unhappy with Konoha, but the Godaime (and her inevitable bewhiskered successor) have promised that things will change. For the first time, he almost remembers what hope feels like.

And slowly, oh-so-slowly, he relearns to trust the people who have never let him go.

An amused smile curls Sakura's mouth as she watches the progression of mortification, then irritation, followed by resignation on his ridiculously handsome face. A loud gurgle reveals that he skipped breakfast (he really should know better after the first time, and she giggles at the thought). He sends a disgruntled glare her way at the sound of her laughter.

Kakashi leans down and pats his pupil's spiky head in sympathy. He winks at Sakura and tells her, "Remember, no feeding the failures!" before disappearing with a poof.

Sakura smirks slyly at her bound teammate (the other one is still writhing on the ground) before picking out a cherry tomato from her bento. Holding it before her face, she raises a suggestive eyebrow in the direction of a certain tomato-phile.

Sasuke's eyes narrow to slits at the tomato, then he stares obstinately off in another direction. He won't ask (definitely won't beg), she knows, but Sasuke would never willingly _refuse_ a tomato. So she spears the tomato with one of her chopsticks and sashays over to where Mr. Sunshine is tied up. Squatting in front of him, she holds the tomato between them teasingly.

"You sound awfully hungry over here, Sasu-cakes," she taunts, "and this cherry tomato looks pretty tasty." She holds it out for him to inspect. He turns his nose up and away. Undeterred, she taps the tomato against his lips. "C'mon, Sasuke-kun, I know you're hungry." **Glareglareglare**.

She shrugs.

"Fine, suit yourself."

The cherry tomato is enveloped by cherry lips, veridian eyes fixed on his coal counterparts. She bites down slowly, the juice running down her chin, and he dies a little inside. Sakura makes a noise of satisfaction.

He watches unblinkingly as she swallows half of the small red fruit, holding the bleeding other half with the tips of her slender fingers.

"You sure you don't want a taste, Sasuke-kun? It's the last tomato." She smiles coyly at him, dragging her tongue slowly across her bottom lip to lap up the juice there.

Sasuke growls and throws his head back against the stump. Her smugness is unbearable, but he is _really_ hungry and it's a _tomato_. Damn Sakura.

"Fine," he bites out. Glareglareglare.

Her smile is real and no guile this time as she kneels in front of him. "Say ahhh!"

Sasuke scowls before closing his eyes and opening his mouth...

...only to have his eyes shoot wide open again as she kisses him.

And she's using her _tongue_, her _tongue_ which tastes like _tomato_.

Touché, Sakura.

She smirks against his mouth as he responds to her kiss, plundering her mouth for the tangy taste of his favorite fruit. He licks her lips and her chin to get at the remaining juice. The uneaten half of the tomato lies forgotten on the ground.

Sakura can't quite remember untying Sasuke, but one of his hands rests at the base of her neck and the other is buried in her hair, and as he continues to kiss her senseless, she can't help but think that maybe this is a new beginning, not just for Team Seven, but for her and for Sasuke and for SakuraandSasuke.

She smiles against his mouth as she thinks that this is the _new and improved_ best day of her life.

**a/n: **So, I'm back after 7 years. Going to attempt to do a month's worth of prompts based on a countdown marathon I found on tumblr (link in my profile). I'm trying to get back into the writing and fanfiction game after a long haitus, so be kind; rewind. Or is that review? Whatevs. And for anyone who liked my old oneshot **Cure For the Itch**, I'm working on a companion piece/sequel thing. Also thinking about working on other old things. Anyway, hope you enjoyed. More to come!


	2. Uchiha Ubiquity

**Date:** October 8th, 2014

**Pairing:** SasuSaku

**Prompt:** Back Then

**Title:** Uchiha Ubiquity

**Summary:** Sasuke just wants a little peace and quiet.

**Written by:** ebondeath

**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.

There are days, and he will never tell this to his wife, when Uchiha Sasuke longs for the _good old days_. The days when he was free to brood and angst and nobody knew where he kept his tomato stash. It isn't that he wants to go back to being a seething ball of bitterness and rage, no, that isn't what he misses. He wouldn't trade his life now for anything.

What he misses is the _silence_.

"OTOU-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!"

Is it possible to smirk and groan at the same time? Sasuke manages to achieve this as the front door to the Uchiha manor slides open abruptly and three tiny hellions spew forth and tackle him to the ground. Sasuke drowns under a sea of pink and uchiwa fans and hugs and kisses until the laughing voice of Uchiha Sakura calls off their daughters.

There are momentary pouts as the girls scoot away from their father, but these are soon wiped away as they all try to tell him about their day at the same time:

"Otou-san, guess what! I learned how to walk on water today!"

"Well, I hit all the targets right in the middle with my shuriken!"

"I saved you the biggestest tomato!"

Sakura smiles at him as their daughters relate the day's adventures, that soft, easy smile that comes from loving someone for so long and bearing children together. Sasuke smirks back at her, knowing that for all their annoying chatter, the girls will be unrivaled kunoichi one day. How could they not be, given their parentage?

The chatter and the tugging of his clothes continues as he steps inside the house and removes his sandles. The Uchiha patriarch's mind once again wanders back to his days in solitude. Back then, the Uchiha manor was silent as the grave, the only sounds had been his breathing and the echo of his footsteps. There had been no screaming children or trigger-hair tempered wife to holler at him.

For a person such as Sasuke, who had been used to near-constant solitude and quiet for the majority of his life, raising a family is a difficult transition. He does not and can not regret it, of course. His second goal in life is to restore his clan, and with four children, he has made a good start.

.

.

.

Sasuke and Sakura had married at twenty-one years old. The former missing-nin had returned to Konoha following the Fourth Great Shinobi War, at seventeen, and upon completion of his probation, had demanded in typical Sasuke-like fashion that the Godaime reinstate the Konoha Military Police Force and allow him to rebuild it. Tsunade had narrowed her eyes at him and told him that if he wanted to be a part of it, he would have to marry and put roots down in Konoha as a show of good faith that he planned to remain there and give his loyalty to the village. If he could prove to her that he was legitimately engaged to a woman, she told him, then she would honor his request. In the mean time, she would be busy finding a solution to their corrupted council.

Sasuke had thought that convincing Sakura to marry him would be easy. The first time he asked (in the middle of a spar), she punched him clear across the training ground and wouldn't speak to him for three weeks. After some soul searching (and odd heart-to-heart talks with Naruto over ramen), he decided that he would take it slow. He had time now.

So he spent the next two years re-earning her trust. At nineteen, he asked her out on a date and she acquiesed. They'd had a picnic dinner in the gardens behind Uchiha manor and he kissed her for the first time under the just-blooming sakura trees. They spend the next year going out on sporadic dates and dancing around the idea of a relationship. At twenty, Sasuke finally asked Sakura to be his girlfriend. Later that week, Ino collected a large sum of money from their friends among the Rookie Nine. Sakura later learns that there had been a running bet on how long it would take she and Sasuke to get together.

A year later, Sasuke proposed again and received another punch for his troubles. Sakura asked him what took him so long before answering with a resounding yes and a kiss to seal the deal. Sasuke swears she will be the death of him.

.

.

.

Almost nine years later, nearing his thirties, Sasuke decides he was wrong. Sakura isn't going to be the death of him, their triplet daughters are. Uchiha Suzuki, Suzuno, and Shizuka are four years old and Naruto refers to them as the Uchiha Pain Train. They are the joy of Sakura's life and the terror of Sasuke's. They are not identical, but each of them bears Sakura's petal-pink hair and Sasuke's coal-black eyes. With their black and red Uchiha clothing, they could be on an advert for Hot Topic.

Unfortunately for their parents, their personalities at four years old are the spitting image of Inner Sakura. They are loud, they are rowdy, and fight each other over everything. Sasuke's death glares, which could make a grown man wet himself, have no effect on his daughters. He has absolutely no control over them, yet they hang on Sakura's every word. That's not to say that they don't love him, far from it. They adore their father with all the fervor that a young child is capable of. His greeting every day when he returns home from the Police Force is proof of that. And he loves them in return, but he is also more terrified of them than he is of Sakura with all of her chakra-enhanced strength.

As much as he loves his daughters, the child that makes his chest swell with fatherly pride is his firstborn, his son Akira.

Uchiha Akira is nearly the spitting image of his father, though he lucked out of whatever gene that makes Sasuke's hair spike like a chicken butt. At eight years old, Akira is quiet and introverted, but undoubtedly a prodigy. Just like his father, but without all of the anger and bitterness that young Sasuke carried in his heart. He is in his fledgling years at the Ninja Academy, but already he is top of his class and lightyears ahead of his classmates. This boy is the future of the Uchiha clan that Sasuke has hoped for.

.

.

.

Dinner in their household is always an interesting affair. Sasuke and Akira eat silently, Akira dutifully eating his vegetables and rice while Sasuke picks from a bowl of tomatoes. The triplets run around the table chasing each other, pots and pans are invariably being thrown about the room, and Sakura declares that her children are perfect angels. Sasuke is not stupid enough to tell her otherwise.

Afterwards, Sasuke does the dishes while Sakura attemps to bathe the girls and put them to bed (Sasuke does not envy her this task). She tells them stories of their genin days and how their father is the strongest, handsomest jounin ever. They don't need to know about ANBU yet.

Sasuke helps Akira with his homework and his training in the backyard before the oldest, too, is sent off to bed.

Twilight is Sasuke's favorite time of day. Back then, it had been morning, when he saw the whole day ahead of him and its opportunities for his training for revenge. Now, it is twilight, when he sees the innocent sleeping faces of his children as he slides the shoji door to their rooms shut. When he retreats to the garden with Sakura, to hold her and bury his face in her neck and she tells him that she loves him (he hopes she will never stop telling him). He 'hn's in response, and she knows that she, too, is loved in return.

Back then, the silence was filled with his pain and unhappiness.

Now, it is filled with the peace that his wife and his family bring him.

**a/n**: Prompt number two. This one gave me all the fuzzy feelings while writing it. I want to write a next gen fic one day. Hope you enjoyed!


	3. Intervention Through Imitation

**Date**: October 9th, 2014  
**Pairing**: Sakura x Hinata badass team-up  
**Prompt**: Chapter 695  
**Title**: Intervention Through Imitation  
**Summary**: Sometimes boys can be really, really dumb. Semi-crack.  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.

**Author's Note:** I don't even know what I just wrote. For everyone who has reviewed/favorited/followed these prompts, I love you with the intensity of a thousand youthful Rock Lees.

* * *

"This is ridiculous."

"I agree."

"How long have they been at it?"

"Going on three hours now."

"Do you think they even care that they're defacing a monument?"

"Probably not."

Sakura sighs and blows pink strands of hair away from her face. She is hot and sweaty and she can't remember the last time she couldn't smell blood. After fighting and bleeding and confessing and crying, all Sakura wants to do is _go home_.

But she can't.

Because her teammates are dumb.

They are fighting _again_ and Sakura doesn't care if they're having some kind of emotional breakthrough moment because she is just done with this entire scenario. Boys insult each other, boys fight, boys beat each other to an unrecognizable bloody pulp, and Sakura's heart nearly stops from the stress every time. So this time she's just not going to put up with it.

She glances out of the corner eye at Hyuuga Hinata, who looks equally as tired and frazzled. Hinata agrees with her that the boys of Team Seven are being completely unreasonable. Hinata loves Naruto, she doesn't want to see Sasuke kill him. Green eyes narrow to slits.

"Hinata, I have a plan."

The Hyuuga heiress stares wide-eyed as Sakura explains her plan, and by the time she is finished they are both giggling like crazy. The plan is insane (it could only have been concocted by Inner Sakura), but if it will bring Naruto home in one piece, then Hinata is willing to go along with Sakura's demented (desperate) scheme.

* * *

"So...this is my least favorite part of the plan."

In her head, Hinata agrees, but she is too close to some kind of panic/anxiety attack to agree. They are currently climbing up Hashirama's stone torso, hundreds of feet above the ground, and hanging on only by the chakra emitting from their feet. If she looks down, she will faint, splatter on the ground, and die like a pancake. Hinata doesn't even like pancakes.

Sakura is not particularly enthusiastic about being up this high, but she won't let her nervousness stop her. She is too focused on her plan, too exasperated and pissed off to bother thinking of falling. It's not in the plan, therefore it won't happen. There will be no deviation from the plan because these boys have ruined her good mood for the last time.

"Almost there," she calls.

And then they are finally at the top and it's pretty obvious that if Naruto and Sasuke keep going at the same rate, the statues of Konoha's founders are going to be bald. There are cracks in Hashirama's forehead and pieces of Madara's hair are missing. Sakura's eye twitches.

She glances over at a pale Hinata, who is breathing deeply and looking extremely grateful to be vertical again.

"You ready for this? Those boys won't even know what hit them."

Hinata smirks at Sakura (who knew Hinata was even capable of smirking? Sakura wishes she had her camera to capure this phenomenon) and gives the affirmative. Sakura nods. "Alright, you first." She backs away a few feet and readies an attack stance.

* * *

"GOD, SAKURA, GET OVER YOUR DEAD FAMILY ALREADY. STOP BEING SO EMO AND COME BE FRIENDS WITH US AGAIN."

Two palms.

Four palms.

Eight palms.

"DO YOU EVER SHUT UP, HINATA? WHY THE HELL WOULD I WANT TO COME HOME TO SOMEBODY WHO HAS THE INABILITY TO GIVE PEOPLE SPACE WHEN THEY CLEARLY HAVE EXACERBATED MENTAL ISSUES?"

Slam.

Crunch.

Crater where the center of Hashirama's head used to be.

"BECAUSE YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND, BITCH, NOW COME HERE AND LET ME HIT YOU WITH MY STRONGEST TECHNIQUE BECAUSE THAT'S HOW EMOTIONALLY HEALTHY PEOPLE WORK OUT THEIR PROBLEMS."

Sixteen palms.

Thirty-two palms.

"YOU'RE SO STUPID. OBVIOUSLY THE ONLY WAY TO DEAL WITH YOUR PROBLEMS IS TO EITHER BURN DOWN THE VILLAGE THAT YOU USED TO LIVE IN AND THAT YOUR FAMILY HELPED FOUND, OR RETURN AS THE WANNA-BE PRODIGAL CHILD AND TAKE OVER SAID VILLAGE EVEN THOUGH EVERYBODY HATES YOU EXCEPT FOR THE PEOPLE YOU FLIPPED OFF ON THE WAY OUT THE DOOR. THEN, YOU GET WITH SOME DUDE THAT YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW OR LIKE AND START SHOOTING OUT KIDS SO THAT YOU CAN RESURRECT YOUR DEAD FAMILY IN THE VILLAGE THAT YOU HATE."

Raining shuriken.

Hair-pulling.

Nail-scratching.

Wrestling on the ground.

* * *

The sounds of combat from the two male shinobi finally cease as they notice their female comrades engaged in an over-the-top screaming match complete with Gentle Fist, overpowered punches, and various weaponry. Both boys look at each other in confusion, then at the girls, who are now facing them with crossed arms and angry glares.

Naruto scratches the back of his head sheepishly.

"Um...Hinata-chan, what's going on?" Sasuke snorts his support of the question.

Sakura stomps her foot and the stone cracks.

"This is what you morons sound like ALL THE TIME. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW ANNOYING IT IS TO WATCH YOU TO FIGHT LIKE ACADEMY KIDS EVERY TIME YOU COME WITHIN TEN MILES OF EACH OTHER?! You have no idea how to interact like normal human beings!" The kunoichi is fuming, her face red and her fists clenched. The warning signs are all there, but of course neither of her teammates are bright enough to pick up on them.

"Sakura-san is right," Hinata says softly, her fingers poking together in her old nervous habit. All of her rage and bluster are gone, but her eyes are still firm and determined.

Naruto and Sasuke shoot each other a look.

"Sakura-chan, this is a guy thing. This is how we handle our shit. It's okay, I've got this!" Naruto winks at her and gives her a thumbs-up and a blinding smile reminiscent of Rock Lee.

Next to him, Sasuke is scowling. "Get out of our way, you're annoying."

And that is the last straw for Haruno Sakura.

With a vein distinctly pulsing in her temple, she marches up to the two most important men in her life, grabs them both by the collar, and yanks hard. Their heads clunk together, rendering them both unconscious.

* * *

They are halfway back to Konoha, Sakura carrying the boys (who are still unconscious and now hog-tied) over her shoulders with her monstrous strength, when Hinata stops and turns to her.

"Tsunade-sama should really give us a medal."

Sakura has never agreed with anything more.


	4. Groveling For Groceries

**Date:** October 10th, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku  
**Prompt:** First  
**Title: **Groveling for Groceries  
**Summary: **AU. The early bird gets the worm. Unless you're Sasuke.  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note:** To everybody who has read, reviewed, favorited, or followed my fics, I love you with the intensity of one thousand youthful Rock Lees.

* * *

It's Sunday, the day Sasuke goes grocery shopping.

At 8:30 in the morning, it's drizzling outside and Sasuke shakes the water out of his naturally spiked hair as he enters the local market. It's quiet and not many people are doing their shopping this early in the morning.

He wanders the aisles absentmindedly, picking out his usual fanfare and throwing it into his basket. He bypasses the sweets entirely, opting for plain vegetables, rice, and various fish and meats. For the most part, Sasuke doesn't particularly care what he eats (with the exception of his dislike of sweets). There is one special food though, one indulgence that he allows himself.

Tomatoes.

Sasuke is, by nature, a person of extreme self-discipline. Being a pre-law student and a member of Konoha University's basketball team requires almost every ounce of his attention and dedication. And Sasuke has never been one to do things half-assed. So his diet and workout routine are strict, and his study regimen is intense and focused.

Having finished the rest of his shopping, Sasuke moves toward the fresh produce section at a quick pace. There is a reason he chooses to shop at this grocery market, and it's because it has the freshest, roundest, reddest, most juicy tomatoes. The price is a little steep, but the quality is superb and Sasuke is not exactly hurting for cash.

Tomato season is almost over, so their stock is not as generous as it usually is. In fact, as Sasuke approaches the display, he sees that there is only one bag left. He smirks to himself in victory as he reaches for it.

Out of nowhere, another hand slaps his away.

"Hands off, bucko, I saw 'em first."

Sasuke is startled into looking up at the offending tomato-thief. To his astonishment, it's a scrawny girl, maybe his age. And...oh god, is that..._pink hair_? Who has pink hair? Really? Pink hair and really, _really_ green eyes. The kind of deep green-blue you only see in unsullied ocean waters. She's wearing a purple KU hoodie, denim cutoffs, black and white striped leggings (again, really?), and beat up classic black Chuck Taylors.

He snaps himself out of his inspection and reaches for the tomatoes again.

"I don't think so. These are clearly mine."

The pink chick does not seem to appreciate this answer and tugs on the bag. "I don't think so. I saw them first, and I'll get much more use out of them you could. You'll probably just throw them at passing kids trespassing on your lawn."

Sasuke splutters. The idea of wasting such delicious delicacies on the punishment of juvenile idiots is inconceivable. Is this girl crazy? He glances at her weird hair and outfit again. Scratch that, she is clearly crazy.

"You are ridiculously wrong. I intend to eat them."

She raises a pink eyebrow. "Eat them? As in, raw and unaccompanied? Who does that, seriously? You're weird, and these tomatoes are mine. Have a nice life." Crazy girl yanks the bag of tomatoes out of his hand and starts walking away.

* * *

Now, Uchiha Mikoto raised a gentleman. And under normal circumstances, Sasuke would just let it go and let the lady have her way. But these are tomatoes. TOMATOES. Sasuke's favorite food. Not just his favorite food, but his favorite thing ever in the history of everything. And under these circumstances, Sasuke has no intention of losing to some crazy-ass (but cute in a kind of weird, off-beat way) chick with pink hair. At worst, he's willing to compromise.

"Wait a minute." He follows her back to her cart. She turns around and raises that eyebrow again. He wets his lips nervously (nervous? Since when is Uchiha Sasuke ever nervous? And around some inconsequential girl?) and he can't help but glance at hers as he does.

"Would you be willing to split the bag? Half and half?"

She ponders his question for a few seconds before laughing to herself.

"You really want these tomatoes, don'tcha? I'll tell you what," her eyes sparkle as she smirks at him, "I plan on cooking up all these tomatoes tonight. I'm making spaghetti sauce, home-made pizza, bruschetta, salsa, and some damn good BLTs."

Sasuke stares at her. "You're making all that for one night?" He looks down at her skinny frame. "You must have the metabolism of the gods."

She rolls her eyes at him. "No, dorkface. That's about a week's worth of food for me, plus I have moocher friends. Here's what I'm offering. You come over to my place tonight for a date, home-cooked dinner obviously, and you can have all the tomato foods you like. I'll even leave you one of the tomatoes whole and give you a jar of my specialty tomato jam. What say you?"

She's standing there staring at him with her arms folded and this smug expression on her face like she knows he's going to say yes. She's even crazier than he thought. And that has the opposite effect of what he'd thought it would have.

"...a date?"

She nods. "Mmhm."

Sasuke considers her offer, eyes roaming her face. The corners of her full lips are turned up in amusement as if she knows what he's thinking. Her eyes are full of mirth and mischief, no hint of insecurity whatsoever. She doesn't even entertain the idea of him saying no.

"What's your name?"

"Sakura."

He shouldn't be surprised, given her hair color, but he is. Sakura is the name of a delicate flower, and there is nothing delicate about this girl. She's all bony angles and sharp words. Sasuke decides he likes her name, and likes her.

"Fine. Where do you live and what time should I be there?"

Sakura grins at him and whips out a pen and an old receipt from her purse.

"Just don't bring any flowers. If you bring anything, bring a six pack."

* * *

Sasuke is standing outside the door of one Haruno Sakura at 6:30 that night. He shakes his head and asks himself for the thousandth time since this morning what he's doing. He's agreed to a dinner date with some weird girl who tried to steal his tomatoes (and succeeded). Maybe he's as crazy as she is.

She answers after the 2nd knock, and as soon as she opens the door Sasuke decides he's going to marry this girl if her apartment smells like this all the time. The smell of cooking tomatoes wafts to his nose from the unseen kitchen. It saturates the whole apartment and surrounds Sasuke like warm, comfortable blanket.

Sakura grins at him and beckons him inside. She takes the six pack of beer from him and leads him into the kitchen, and now Sasuke is definitely making plans to move in.

On the kitchen table sit two homemade pizzas. One is covered with meat and tomatoes, the other decorated in mushrooms, peppers, and olives. On the counter sits the bruschetta, grilled bread covered with tomatoes, olive oil, and salt and pepper. As she opens the fridge to deposit the beer, Sasuke sees the BLTs she must have made earlier. To his left, spaghetti sauce is simmering on the stove. The smell is heavenly.

Sasuke feels a tap on his shoulder and turns around to find Sakura handing him a glass of tomato juice. A lazy smirk creeps up on his face. "You don't think this is going a little overboard?"

She snorts and waves her hand at him. "You're the one who's obsessed with tomatoes to the point where you'd stalk and harass a girl in the supermarket over it." Sasuke glares at her. She shrugs.

"Anyway. I've got a movie in. I figure we can start with the pizzas and make our way from there. Grab yourself whatever you want and meet me in the living room. It's down the hall on the right."

* * *

An hour into the movie and many slices of pizza later, Sakura's head is resting on his shoulder and his arm seems to have snuck itself around her waist at some point. When the hell did that happen? And yet, to Sasuke, it feels completely comfortable. Like they haven't only known each other for twelve hours.

The movie she's picked is a horror cult classic, one of his favorites. It's like between the tomatoes and the movie, they're already on the same wavelength. Either that or she's been stalking him. That idea should probably alarm him more, but Sasuke can't bring himself to care.

He looks down at the girl leaning against him and smirks. Feeling his gaze on her, she turns her face to return the look, her brow raised (again. That must be her trademark expression). Then she momentarily leans forward and away from him to steal his unfinished second glass of tomato juice. She drains the rest of the glass and then stares him down.

"We should make out," she says, "and then you should probably just go ahead and agree to be my boyfriend right now, because this whole scenario right here is going to be a thing."

Sasuke doesn't bother to argue. He's already kissing her, wrapping his arms around her, and pressing her into the couch. Her mouth tastes like tomato juice, and if that's going to be a thing too, then he doesn't think being her boyfriend will be so bad.


	5. Field of Forever

**Date:** October 11th, 2014  
**Pairing**: SasuSaku  
**Prompt:** Daffodil  
**Title:** Field of Forever  
**Summary:** He never needed to ask, but he does anyway.  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note:** I really, really like this one.  
**Recommended Listening:** All About You by Birdy

* * *

"Sasuke-kun, where are we going?"

"Hn."

"That's not an answer."

Deep sigh.

"I want to give you something."

Sakura's viridian eyes widen in wonder.

Sasuke cringes whenever something he does surprises Sakura. Not because it's annoying or because she's done anything wrong. No, the problem is _him_. The problem is that all these little things he does or says surprise her and make her bubble over with happiness. The problem is that he does all these things _completely by accident_.

And she deserves better than that. She deserves somebody who knows how to do these things that make her happy. Somebody that knows how to love and appreciate her the way that she deserves because Sakura is the best thing that could ever happen to anybody.

Sasuke knows that he falls far short of the person who should have won Haruno Sakura's heart. But he _did_ and she loves _him_ and Sasuke doesn't understand why. He is broken and angry and emotionally stunted. The last person who told him they loved him was his mother as she sent him off to the Academy, and when he came home she was dead. The last person he realized he loved was his brother, who smiled at him and then he died.

What Sasuke feels for Sakura is not the same as what he felt for his mother and his brother. What he feels for Sakura is intense and his chest feels hot when he looks at her and puts his arm around her. When he kisses her that heat spreads from his heart to his throat and his arms and legs until it's everywhere and he thinks he could combust. When she looks at him with that smile she saves _just for him_, his heart pounds like he's having a coronary and his face goes the shade of his favorite food.

He _loves_ her, even if he doesn't know how to say that.

And then his guilt intensifies, because even though Sasuke _knows_ he's no good for her (this is an understatement, he's previously tried to kill her), he _needs_ her. Needs her like he needs to breathe, like a drowning man needs air. And no matter how much he hates himself for the things he can never be, he knows he won't give her up.

One day, she may realize what he knows, that she deserves more. And one day she may leave him, and he will never begrudge her that. Even if it will break him.

* * *

Sasuke leads her past the Uchiha compound, following a small stream that leads into a shady wooded area. He is holding her hand as they maneuver through the trees, and Sakura is wildly curious about where he is taking her. Spontaneous excursions are very unlike him, ever since his return to Konoha Sasuke has settled into a routine that he rarely deviates from. It is comforting for him after the chaos of his defection from Konoha.

They spend a few more minutes navigating the forest before the trees finally thin out and the emerge from the woods.

Sakura's eyes widen and she gasps in utter happiness. They are standing under an impossibly blue sky sprinkled with wispy clouds. The sun shines down on a large open field that stretches for miles, and everywhere Sakura turns there are daffodils.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, it's beautiful," she breathes. "How did you find this place?"

He just shrugs and his eyes follow her as she runs out among the canary-colored flowers. She closes her eyes and throws her arms out as she spins in circles, her smile as wide as the sky. Her carnation hair fans out in a halo around her head as she spins, and though Sasuke knows that she is always beautiful, right now she is absolutely incandescent.

Hesitantly, he takes a step towards her. He doesn't belong here, he's too dark, too tainted for this place and for her...Then Sakura aims that smile at him and all the breath goes out of him. He takes another step towards her, then another, until he is standing in front of her. Her eyes crinkle as she smiles up at him and tilts her head to the side.

"You said you had something you wanted to give me, Sasuke-kun?"

He takes a deep breath and nods before taking her small, delicate hands in his larger, calloused ones. He drops something in the palm of her hand and curls her fingers around it. She looks at him confused for a moment before dropping her gaze to the object resting on her palm.

* * *

Sakura's heart stops as she sees what it is that he's given her. Her breath becomes shallow and accelerated and there's not enough air in the world to fill her lungs. Her brain short circuits and her voice seems to be missing as she studies the small object.

It's a ring.

A thin, white gold band with a medium sized diamond nestled between two pear-shaped rubies.

It reminds her of the red and white uchiwa, the symbol of the Uchiha clan. Which can only mean one thing...

* * *

"It was my mother's," he tells her quietly.

Tears spring to the corner of her eyes and her breath comes in large gasps. Sakura's beautiful green eyes are huge as she searches his face for an explanation for why he's giving it to her.

Sasuke leans down and cups her face in his hands, his forehead touching hers.

"**Marry me. Please.**"

It is the closest he will ever come to begging for anything.

He closes his eyes and tries to control the frantic pounding of his heart as he waits for her answer. He hopes desperately that she understands that he needs her. That he's not just asking her for the sake of reviving his clan. That everything good about him is because of _her_, and even though he isn't worthy of her he will spend every day trying.

"**I love you.**"

It comes out in a whoosh of breath as he exhales. This is the first time he has said it to her, in the three years of their relationship. It is the first time he's said it to anyone since his mother died.

And then the tears are pouring down her face and she throws her arms around his neck and sobs uncontrollably.

Sasuke starts to panic, when suddenly...

"Yesyesyesyesyesohmygodyes."

She moves her face away from his chest and pulls him down for a searing kiss that they both feel down to their toes. His sigh of relief breaks the dam inside of him and then for the first time in thirteen years Sasuke smiles. A real smile of genuine happiness that could have only been brought about by Sakura.

He plucks the ring from her palm and slowly slides it onto the fourth finger on her left hand, his eyes never leaving hers. As the biggest smile he has ever seen lights up her face, he pulls Sakura in for an embrace, wrapping both arms around her waist and burying his face in her neck.

"Sakura."

"Yes, Sasuke-kun?"

"Thank you."


	6. Camping With Comrades

**Date: **October 12th, 2014  
**Pairing**: SasuSaku, NaruHina  
**Prompt:** Team 7  
**Title:** Camping With Comrades  
**Summary:** Some things never change, including tent size.  
**Author's Note:** If you can't tell, I'm obsessed with alliteration in my titles. Also I hate writing dialogue.  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.

* * *

"KAKASHI-SENSEI, YOU'RE LATE. AGAIN."

"Or, alternatively, you're all early."

Three sighs echo in the early morning. Team Seven stands at the north gate of Konoha, ready for their first mission as a re-formed team since Sasuke's return. And as per usual, their old sensei is late.

"Why are you even here, Kakashi-sensei? We're eighteen, we don't need a babysitter!" Naruto pouts and folds his arms, looking for all the world like he's twelve years old again.

Sakura rolls her eyes and smirks. "He has to come along because the two of you are still genin."

Both Naruto and Sasuke look distinctly disgruntled at this statement.

Naruto huffs in indignation, "You mean to tell me that all the stuff we did during the war, INCLUDING DEFEATING THE MOST POWERFUL PERSON IN EXISTENCE I MIGHT ADD, isn't enough to get us a promotion?!"

"No," Kakashi deadpans.

"Sorry, Naruto, that's not the way it works. You'll have to take the chuunin exam again, just like the rest of us." Sakura winks at him and makes her way toward the gate.

Naruto resumes pouting. "Bah, this sucks. Well, what's our mission then? Are we going to beat up some bandits or find some lost treasure? Oooh, or maybe defeat a power-mad warlord and save some beautiful damsel-in-distress while we're at it!" He rubs his hands in glee at the thought of such an adventure.

Sasuke snorts. "You may have spent years training with the frog sennin, but apparently he didn't teach you how to read. Did you even look at the mission scroll or are you using it to prop up your table?"

Naruto fumes and clenches his fist at the Uchiha. "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

At this point, Sakura knows she has to step in or they'll be here all day. "Boys, cool it. We're going to Kusa. They've just renewed their trade agreement with us and we're going to pick up the signed scroll. The ambassador is remaining there for a few more weeks, so we're just picking up the scroll for Tsunade-shishou." She turns to the Kyuubi container. "And Naruto, you should have read the mission scroll. What if there were important details in there that we couldn't talk about out loud?"

"But Sakura-chan," he whines, "I didn't have time to read it last night. I had my first date with Hinata-chan!"

"And that is the only reason I'm letting you off the hook. Now let's go, we're already late starting out."

And for the first time in almost six years the gates of Konoha see all four original members leave together.

* * *

A good nine hours of tree-hopping later, they decide to make camp for the night.

Kakashi has volunteered to go refill their canteens in the nearby river, which means he'll spend the next two hours in a tree reading his Icha Icha book and giggling to himself.

Naruto has been assigned to set up their tents, which means that Sasuke and Sakura will have to step in and fix the mess he's made after trying and failing for two hours.

Sakura asks Sasuke to light the campfire with his katon while she checks their supplies and prepares their dinner. Sasuke rolls his eyes and deems it a complete misuse of his abilities. As he mentally complains about being relegated to the role of matchstick, he makes a slight miscalculation in the amount of chakra he needs for his katon...

WHOOSH. BOOM. CRACKLE.

"ARGH, WHAT THE HELL, TEME."

Sakura whirls around to find the tent that Naruto's been working on ablaze and the fire pit a roaring mass of flames stretching ten feet into the air. "Sasuke-kun!" she shrieks. Sasuke has the good grace to look sheepish. And then she notices that Naruto's hair is on fire.

* * *

An hour later, the flames have finally been doused (no thanks to Kakashi, who still hasn't arrived with their refilled canteens). Naruto's hair is slightly shorter and one of their tents is nothing but ash. Unfortunately, it's Sakura's tent.

The medic-nin sighs as she realizes she'll have to sleep in her bedroll with no overhead cover. She hopes in won't rain tonight.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, you can share a tent with me!" Naruto winks at her and shoots her a toothy grin. Sasuke punches him in the jaw. "She is not sharing a tent with you, dobe. She can take mine." The blonde grins. "Pfft, what kind of boyfriend are you, teme? Why not offer to _share_?" He wiggles his eyebrows in a suggestive (read: disturbing) manner.

Sakura flushes up to the roots of her pink hair. "Shut up, baka. It's fine, Sasuke-kun, I'll sleep without a tent. As long as it doesn't rain, there won't be a problem." She unfurls her bedroll near the (now much smaller) fire. Sasuke stalks over to her and drags her bedroll off to his tent.

"We'll share," he states as he emerges from the tent. Sakura blushes again and nods. They've been together for six months, but they've never shared a bed.

"Now that we've got that settled, let's have some dinner."

"You brought the ramen, right?"

* * *

"Sakura-chan."

Naruto's face is serious as he looks at her. "Will you do me a favor?"

She peers at him curiously, but with a healthy dose of suspicion. This is Naruto after all, and he probably wants something ridiculous like

"Will you teach me how to kiss?"

Sasuke spits out his udon and levels his deadliest death glare at his idiot best friend.

"No, she won't."

"Shut up, teme, I wasn't asking you. I've already kissed you, and believe me, you suck."

"She's my girlfriend and she won't be kissing you. AND WE AGREED THAT WE WOULD NEVER MENTION THAT. Also, I do not suck. Ask Sakura." Smirkface.

Sakura smacks her palm against her forehead. "I'm not even going to address any of that last bit. Naruto, why are you asking me? This is the type of thing you're supposed to be asking Hinata. I'm sure she'd love it if you kissed her."

"But that's exactly the point!" He throws his hands up in the air. "I DO want to kiss Hinata-chan, but I don't want to suck at it! I want to knock her off her feet with my awesome lip skills!"

"You already do that on a regular basis WITHOUT kissing her," Sakura mutters to herself under her breath.

"Just think of it like a mission," he continues excitedly, "Operation: Teach Naruto to Kiss Like a Champ! Booyah!"

Sakura sighs in defeat. "Fiiiiiine. But I'm not teaching you directly. I have another idea." She stands up and makes a few familiar hand signs. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" A perfect clone of Sakura appears beside her.

Sasuke groans. "That's not a better solution, it's still you."

Sakura waves him off. "Not done yet." She leans over and whispers a few words to her bunshin, who nods. A few seconds later and the clone of Sakura becomes Hinata. Sasuke smirks at his girlfriend and her big brain.

Naruto pales. "I don't know if I can do this, she looks just like Hinata-chan. I get so nervous around her when I think about kissing her..."

The Sakura-Hinata clone walks over to Naruto and sits down next to him, grabbing his arm and looking up at him with admiration shining in her eyes. "Naruto-kun, please kiss me."

Naruto gulps.

* * *

"This was a terrible idea. I am so sorry."

"You should be."

Thiry minutes later, Sasuke and Sakura are huddled together trying their best to block out the slurpy kissing noises coming from across the fire, where he and the faux Hinata are animatedly making out.

Sakura groans and buries her face in her boyfriend-slash-teammate's shoulder. She has no idea how she is going to explain this to her friend. Maybe she should move, she's heard Suna is nice this time of year.

Kakashi chooses that inopportune moment to return to camp from the road of life, or wherever he's been, his attention immediately drawn to the duo attached at the lips. He merely shrugs, gives Naruto a thumbs up and and "atta-boy" and retreats to his tent. Probably to read more.

Sasuke turns to Sakura and suggests that they too should head for the cover of their tent. Sakura can't agree fast enough.

* * *

"Your feet are cold."

"Well, sorry, Mr. Chesty McAbsGuy. We can't all be a human radiator."

"...what."

"You heard me."

"What does that even mean."

"It means that.."

"Goodnight, Sakura."

She huffs. "Goodnight, Sasuke-kun."

He wraps his arms around her waist and pecks her on the cheek.

Sakura's smile could light up the dark.

* * *

Twenty minutes later...

"GUYS."

"NO. GO TO SLEEP NARUTO."

"BUT MY TENT'S TOO SMALL."

"WHAT."

Sakura emerges from the tent extremely annoyed and looks over to see a sight that would be extremely amusing if it hadn't interrupted her cuddle time with Sasuke.

Naruto, who at eighteen is over six feet tall, is using the same tent he's had since he was twelve. Which means that while the tent covers the major of his body, his head and feet are sticking out.

"Holy hell, Naruto, really? In SIX YEARS you've never bought a new tent?" She sighs in exasperation.

"But it's been so long since I've been on a mission," he whines.

"Dobe," Sasuke growls as he emerges from the tent (shirtless. Inner Sakura squeals.).

"Let me come sleep with you guys. You've got enought room in there for me too. Pleeeeaaase."

"Absolutely not," Sasuke snarls.

"No way." Sakura folds her arms and glares at him.

Ten minutes later, they're all squashed together in Sasuke's tent, and not for the first time Sasuke wishes he'd killed the idiot when he'd had the chance.

And unfortunately for Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto snores.

* * *

"So, how'd the mission go? It was an easy C rank, so you shouldn't have had too much trouble."

Tsunade eyes the quartet apprehensively.

Naruto is covered in bruises and lumps, Sakura has dark black bags under her eyes and a violent expression, and Sasuke looks ready to go on a killing spree. Kakashi, as usual, has not a hair out of place and his expression is serene.

"It went just peachy. Here's the scroll." Kakashi hands it over.

"Excellent. I've got plenty more missions for Team Seven so I hope you all enjoyed each others company. Dismissed."

Sasuke and Sakura drag Naruto out of the Hokage's office, down the hall, out of the building, and proceed to throw him into the nearest supply shop that carries tents.

Sakura glances up at the exhausted Uchiha.

"Nap time?"

"Oh yeah."

"I'll see you later then, Sasuke-kun." She smiles and waves before turning away.

He grabs her wrist. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Home, for a nap." She blinks at him.

"Hn. Come on, my bed's bigger."

Her smile widens and she links her arm through his as they walk off in the direction of the Uchiha compound.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I didn't like this one starting out, but the more I wrote, the more it grew on me. Again, to everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed these prompts, thank you and I love you. It is really, really appreciated.


	7. Jocks and Juliettes

**Date:** October 13th, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku  
**Prompt:** Self-esteem  
**Title:** Jocks and Juliettes  
**Summary:** AU. Semi-OOC. He wears the glasses, but she is the blind one.  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Recommended Listening:** Cool Kids by Echosmith  
**Author's Note I:** Everybody's read those high school fics where Sasuke is the super hot, stand-offish cool kid and Sakura is the invisible cute geek girl. Well, WHAT IF IT WAS THE OTHER WAY AROUND. Here you go.  
**Author's Note II:** Why do I keep writing as Sasuke when Sakura is my favorite character. asdflkj;.  
**Author's Note III:** I graduated from high school 7 years ago, so forgive me if my knowledge of the lingo or trends is out of date.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke is always early to first period History. He sits in the front row, next to the window, and always pays attention the teacher. He wears loose black pants and navy shirts that never fit him quite right and are hand-me-downs from his older brother. He also wears oval-shaped, metal frame glasses that are always slipping down the bridge of his nose. His dark hair is messy and sticks up in all directions in the back, and he can never manage to tame it.

He is always quiet and never volunteers anything about himself. He prefers to spend his time doodling in his sketchbook that he has never shared with anyone, or in books where he can be anyone he wants to be.

Who he wants to be...

Who he wants to be is someone who isn't his parents' second son. Someone who doesn't live in the shadow of his older brother who is smarter, stronger, more interesting, and better looking. His parents don't even notice him.

Who he wants to be is someone who isn't afraid to talk to the other kids at school. Someone who isn't afraid of being judged for carrying a sketchbook and 5 library books. He doesn't even have any friends.

He wants to be somebody _she_ would smile at.

* * *

_She_ is Haruno Sakura, his classmate and the girl he's been in love with since the second grade when she gave him her blue crayon. Sakura is beautiful and smart and so painfully unreachable. She is _popular_, and he thinks it like a curse word. She is _popular_ and she is _cool_. Two things he will never be. Two things he is not sure he wants to be. Being popular means she will never ever look at him or speak to him if she can help it. Even if she wanted to (and he can't imagine why she ever would), her friends would never let her.

He doesn't think she's like her friends though. He's seen the way she smiles so easily without any guile, the way she shares her lunch with kids who don't have money to pay for it, the way she tutors kids after school for free just because she wants to. She wants to be a doctor, so she volunteers in the school clinic.

Sakura always dresses well, but she doesn't care about clothes and make-up the way Ino does. She always has a boyfriend, but doesn't care about chasing boys the way that Karin does. She's on the track team with Tenten, but doesn't flaunt her runner's body. And she's on the prom committee with Hinata, but doesn't care about being prom queen.

There's no way she would ever notice anyone as invisible as Sasuke.

So Sasuke keeps his feelings to himself and settles for staring at her from between his long black bangs and hoping she doesn't (does) notice.

* * *

Sakura is in four of Sasuke's classes: first period History, third period AP Biology, fourth period AP Calculus, and they share a free period for their fifth.

This means that Sasuke has a lot of practice at staring at her without being noticed. It takes all of his willpower to wrestle his attention away from the way she unconsciously flips her hair and pay attention to his teachers.

It takes even more willpower to ignore the burning in his chest when Inuzuka Kiba casually drapes his arm around her.

Kiba is the epitome of _cool_. He's the football team's wide receiver, and his letterman jacket attracts girls like flies to honey. His family breeds prize-winning show dogs and the girls coo over those too. He is an unabashed player, but he pretends for Sakura that he is faithful.

Sasuke hates him.

Every morning, Kiba swaggers into first period (late as usual) and makes his way past Sasuke, "accidentally" knocking him in the head with his bookbag. He sits in the back of the room with the other popular kids. Sasuke tries to ignore him, but he hears Sakura's giggle from behind him as Kiba greets her and his knuckles go white as he clenches the desk.

Sasuke hates Kiba, but he hates himself more for being a coward.

* * *

In AP Biology, Shizune-sensei announces that they will be partnering up for a project. This makes Sasuke very anxious. He doesn't like working with other people. They're always more interested in him and what's in his sketchbook rather than doing the work. Even worse, they want to know about Itachi.

Itachi is his golden boy, perfect brother. His brother who gets all the love and acknowledgement from their parents and leaves none for Sasuke. His brother who was the star quarterback and the captain of the basketball, baseball, and academic teams during his time at Konoha High. His brother who graduated a year early and is now in graduate school getting a Master's degree in criminal justice. His brother who is dating Kiba's sister Hana.

Sasuke hopes that Shikamaru will agree to be his partner. Shikamaru is the least curious person he knows and the closest thing Sasuke has to a friend. He is also the laziest person Sasuke knows, but he knows his stuff and won't leave the entire project on Sasuke's shoulders.

Unfortunately, Shizune-sensei has decided that she will be picking the partners.

"When I call your names, you will find your partner and be seated together. This project will take several weeks and will involve collaboration outside of class. Please be prepared to make plans with your partner to meet up at times convenient for you both."

Sasuke sighs and opens his sketchbook as Shizune-sensei calls out names. He has been working on a portrait of Sakura, a closed-lip smiling likeness of her with big doe eyes and long lustrous hair, all in grey-scale pencil. He manages to tune out the chatter of his classmates as he draws, until the next names called make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Sakura and Sasuke."

* * *

"Hello, Sasuke-kun."

Sakura smiles softly at him as she takes the seat next to him. Sasuke is frozen in place, his pencil dangling in his hand and his insides turned to jello. He should return her greeting, but it feels like his throat is stuffed with marshmallows. So he garbles the best thing he can manage.

"Hn."

She giggles at his response and Sasuke's stomach does flips. Why is she giggling at _him_? It's a happy sound, and there's nothing he's capable of that could possibly make her happy. Her green doe eyes glance down and lock on to the exposed page in his sketchbook.

The page on which he's been drawing her.

Sasuke feels the floor fall out from underneath him. This is it. This is the end. This is the part where she screams and calls him a creep and sics Kiba on him and he dies.

"Ohmygosh, is that me? Sasuke-kun, it's so beautiful! I didn't know you could draw like that! May I see it?"

Sasuke is too shocked that he's still alive to deny her. His hands numbly push his sketchbook (that nobody else has ever seen) towards her. She studies it wide-eyed with wonder instead of horrified disgust, and if Sasuke didn't know better he'd say she's absolutely captivated.

He does know better because there is no universe in which Sakura could ever love his art.

But she's still staring at it like it's the most amazing thing she's ever seen, and Sasuke decides to act on a crazy impulse. He leans over and tears the page out of the sketchbook, offering it to her. As a brilliant smile steals over her face, Sasuke decides that acting on the impulse is the greatest thing he's ever done with his life.

"Will you sign it for me?" Sasuke can't decipher the look in her eyes as he pulls out a fine point Sharpie, but it's making his heart pound so hard that he wouldn't be surprised if everyone else in the room heard it. He signs his name at the bottom of the page in scratchy loops so that she will always know who tried to immortalize her on paper.

* * *

Three weeks into their project timeline, Kiba is caught with his pants down in the girl's bathroom with Ami Watanabe.

Sakura is not in school the next day, or the next.

The burning in Sasuke's chest is at an all-time high temperature. He has broken an entire pack of Number 2 pencils and shredded several pages from his sketchbook.

From what Sasuke overhears, Sakura has not returned any of her friends' calls and won't answer her door. Kiba has been heard leaving pleading voicemails to her phone, all of which go ignored.

Sasuke is worried about her, more worried than her asshole ex-boyfriend is.

* * *

Sasuke decides to walk home that afternoon rather than taking the bus. The clouds are dark in the sky, promising a downpour soon, but it suits his mood. He circles around the back of the school, planning on taking the backroads home and passes the parking lot where all of the jocks and their girlfriends are gathering around their flashy, latest model cars, in a hurry to leave before their collective hair is ruined.

He snorts in disdain and tucks his sketchbook safely inside his jacket before the rain can get to it.

The gravel road he takes passes behind the track field, and that's where he sees Sakura for the first time in three days. She is running in her track team t-shirt and shorts, her hair pulled up in a messy ponytail. She looks as though she's been running laps around the track for a while.

Sasuke makes a decision without thinking and changes his trajectory so that he's walking toward her. She's doubled over trying to catch her breath now, and Sasuke has no intention of letting her run away again.

"Hey," he calls, his voice low.

Drops of rain splatter on his face as she looks up at him slowly. Her eyes are red-rimmed and she's probably been crying as she runs. His heart clenches painfully.

"Hey," she returns, her voice quiet and dispirited. She doesn't look at him, but stares at the ground instead.

The burning in Sasuke's chest returns in full force, and he decides that he hates that sadness in her voice almost as much as hates Kiba right now. He forces his lead feet to move him closer to her.

"Are you okay?" He knows it's a dumb question to ask, but he asks anyway. He's not good at these things.

A tiny sob escapes her as she pulls her hands in towards her chest, wringing them.

The rain is coming down in a steady fall now, and it's cold. She must be freezing standing there in clothes that are steadily soaking through, and without thinking Sasuke pulls his jacket off and drapes it around her. His sketchbook falls to the ground, but Sasuke ignores it. Nothing is more important than her pain right now.

Sakura looks up at him in confusion as the weight of his jacket settles on her shoulders. Tears are making tracks down her cheeks, and Sasuke doesn't resist the urge to wipe them away with his thumbs.

"Why?" She asks him.

"Why am I not good enough? I date these boys, and then there's always someone else. Why am I not enough?" She's crying in earnest now, the raindrops mingling with the tears on her face.

"It's not you," he tells her fiercely, "It's never you."

His hands are on her shoulders now, and those widewide eyes are staring at him in, shocked at the vehemence in his voice. Sasuke has shocked himself, but he's been in love with this girl for eleven years and how can she not know how amazing she is? How can she think that she's not good enough?

It's him that's not good enough, but in this moment Sasuke knows that he's the only who's willing to try to be for her. Their faces are close, but he doesn't glance down at her lips. That's something an asshole like Kiba would do. Instead, he focused on the tears caught in her pink eyelashes.

Haltingly, he tries to tell her.

"You...You are beautiful, and kind, and..and you have a huge heart. You are the most amazing person I know."

He squeezes his eyes shut and wills the words to come, because she needs to understand.

"None of those guys have ever deserved you. _They're_ not good enough for _you._ You give and give and you help people without asking for anything, and nobody has ever given you what you deserve. You deserve to be loved with everything a guy has, nothing held back."

He doesn't tell her he loves her, now isn't the right time.

She's staring at him like she's seeing him for the first time, her lips parted in surprise. It takes her a few minutes to speak.

"Why...why don't you ever talk to me?" She looks puzzled.

His severe expression softens.

"Because I'm not good enough for you."

She half laughs, half sobs.

"How long?" She asks.

"Second grade. You gave me your blue crayon."

"And they say I'm the smart one."

She shakes her head, then looks up at him with a breathtaking tenderness in her eyes. She reaches up slowly and pulls off his glasses before standing up on her tip-toes and pulling him down for a sweet, gentle kiss.

* * *

Sakura is back in school the next day, and she is wearing his freshly laundered jacket. She sits in the front row next to him, and hands him a brand new sketchbook to replace the one ruined by the rain. Her smile is dazzling, and she tells him to open it. He does, and the pages open to the middle of the book.

Pressed between the pages is a blue crayon.


	8. Daiquiris and Daddysitting

**Date:** October 14th, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku, ShikaIno  
**Prompt:** I Can Explain  
**Title:** Daiquiris and Daddysitting  
**Summary:** When the mom's away, dad will completely surrender all of his dignity.  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note:** I've been waiting all week for this prompt. And I adore writing Ino.

**IMPORTANT NOTE:** This ficlet is directly related to the piece I wrote for the prompt "Back Then." If for some reason you haven't read Chapter 2, I really recommend reading that first.

* * *

Sakura sighs in contentment as she sips her mango daiquiri. It's her first "day off" in she doesn't remember how long, and she's spending it with her sadly neglected best friend Ino. They've left the husbands at home to babysit the kids, the hospital and the flower shop are not to be mentioned, and after a full day of shopping, they are cooling their heels at a local café with their bags scattered around them.

"We should do this everyday. You, me, and a bottle of marguarita mix."

Ino takes a long draught of her banana daiquiri. Sakura makes a face. "One, bananas and alcohol do not go together. Two, you would never see Shikamaru again because he would always be on back-to-back missions to pay for your shopping addiction. Then who would watch the kids?"

"Oh, whatever." Ino leans on the table and grins at her. "Sasuke's perfectly capable of watching both of our offspring."

"Ino, I feel like you haven't met my children."

"You're always telling me what little angels they are."

"One out of four isn't a complete lie."

They both laugh, and Ino understands because she has the same disparity with her kids. She and Shikamaru were not _quite_ as fertile as Sasuke and Sakura. They have just the two, a boy and a girl.

Their son, Shikaro, came first, but Ino doesn't think Shika minds. The boy takes after his father and his grandfather, with his hair reminiscent of a pineapple and all the signs of a formidable intellect at eight years old.

And Ino will never forget the expression on Shikamaru's face when their daughter Aya was born. Of course, at two she's a complete terror, but she is first and foremost a daddy's girl. Not to mention a miniature clone of Ino, with Shikamaru's jet eyes.

The two kunoichi clink their glasses together in a toast.

"To girl time."

"To our long-suffering husbands."

* * *

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

" YES, 'TOU-SAN."

"I said NO. Now put it away."

Tears threaten to spill from large onyx eyes and small pouty lips quiver dangerously.

"Otou-san hates us."

And then all three of his daughters are crying loudly in despair, and Sasuke reconsiders his decision to revive his clan.

"...fine."

"YAY!"

* * *

Sasuke wants to die.

The massacre of his clan was nothing compared to the hell his daughters are putting him through at this moment.

He would even be willing to let Naruto be the one to deliver the final blow. Anything, _anything_, would be better than this torture. This is inhumane. This is father abuse. This is _husband_ abuse. Sakura _knows_ the terrors their triplets inflict when left unchecked, and Sasuke has no weapon to keep them in line.

He is at their complete mercy.

"Otou-san, we want ice cream!"

"Ice cream! Ice cream!"

There is no ice cream in the house. They will have to go out in public.

Sasuke cries.

* * *

"Oh my god, Sakura!"

Ino spits out her drink, her face alight with indignation. She points a perfectly manicured finger into the crowd.

Sakura rolls her eyes at her dramatic best friend. She is used to Ino's histrionics, and she's probably just spotted somebody wearing her favorite shoes (and looking far less attractive in them).

"What is it, Ino-pig?" She swirls her straw around in her drink.

"Some bitch is stealing your thunder!"

"And by that you mean...?"

"Look at this chick! She's wearing your outfit! With the red top and your shorts, and even your weird beige skirt thing. AND ARE THOSE YOUR BOOTS TOO?!"

Ino is standing now, her fist clenched in the air and the fires of an enraged fashionista burning in her eyes. Sakura leans over the table, straining to see the girl Ino is talking about. She catches a flash of red in the crowd, but can't get a good look.

"This will not be stood for! Your outfit doesn't even look good on her. Her shoulders are way too broad, and that hair, ugh. Shaggy pixie cut does NOT work for this girl. I'm going to go over there and give her a piece of my mind. Nobody steal's my girl's outfit unless it's ME."

The blonde kunoichi storms off in the direction of the offender, eluding Sakura's grasp as she tries to stop her.

"Ugh, Ino, no. Don't make a scene."

"Oh, there will be a scene. And ugly crying. Get your big guns ready, girl, this bitch is going down."

Sakura sighs in resignation. There is no stopping Ino once she's on a rampage. Her best friend is marching right up to the unusually muscular girl (even for a kunoichi), starting in on her tirade as she goes.

"Listen here, bitch, imitation is NOT a form of flattery coming from you..."

Ino's voice dies as the girl slowly turns around to face her.

Except it's not a girl.

It's...

"SASUKE?!"

* * *

"SASUKE?!"

Sasuke winces. Ino's voice could shatter glass. Or his eardrums. Can you die from shattered ear drums? At this moment, he's willing to try.

Because not only is Shikamaru's wife standing there with her mouth wide open staring at him, but _his_ wife is standing right behind her, witnessing his ultimate shame.

Sasuke seriously contemplates using chidori on himself.

A vein pulses in Sakura's forehead. "Uchiha Sasuke, you have exactly twenty seconds to explain why you are WEARING MY CLOTHES."

"And not well, I might add." Ino snarks.

"It's not what you think..." he starts.

"Not what I think. NOT WHAT I THINK?! You. Are. Wearing. My. Clothes. Mister. And where the hell-"

"I can explain..."

"OKAA-SAN!"

As her daughters come rushing toward her, each of them clutching an ice cream cone, all of Sakura's anger vanishes. It's immediately apparent why Sasuke is wearing her clothes and standing there looking like a dead man.

"Okaa-san! We're playing dress-up!"

"We're Team Seven!"

"We made otou-san be you!"

The triplets strike a pose in front of their father.

"Otou-san, do the thing!"

"Do it! Do it!"

Sasuke sighs, his dignity as an Uchiha and as a man is all gone anyway, and strikes a pose that looks just like Sakura's fighting stance.

Sakura and Ino are bent over crying from laughter, as are a number of passersby.

Suzuki is dressed in an overly large orange shirt that Naruto left at their house some time ago, with a child-size hitai-ate tied around her forehead and black whiskers painted on her cheeks in fingerpaint.

Suzuno is wearing one of Sasuke's old black onesies and a hitai-ate, her pink hair spiked in all directions with the help of Sakura doesn't want to guess what.

Shizuka has Sasuke's jounin vest on, and it takes up nearly her whole four year-old body. Underneath, she's wearing one of his navy turtleneck shirts with the neck pulled up over the bottom half of her face. The hitai-ate she's wearing is slanted over one eye.

It is hands-down the absolute most adorable thing Sakura has ever seen.

* * *

"Can I please not babysit anymore?"

"They're not _that_ bad."

"Says you. Next time, you can wear _my _clothes."

"Sasuke-kun, I look _good_ in your clothes."

"...hn. Touché."

It's later that night and the girls have been cleaned up and put to bed, and Sasuke can finally begin the next phase of his life that involves avoiding everyone he knows until he dies.

Just when Sasuke had thought that the situation could not get any worse, the entire old Rookie Nine gang and the remaining former members of Team Gai had somehow converged at the ice cream shop all at once. It was like there was an invisible beacon bringing them there.

He wouldn't put it past Ino to do something like that.

Somebody took _pictures_. Kiba and Naruto had roared with laughter, and even the stoic Shino could be heard chuckling. Hyuuga Neji was probably laughing at him from beyond the grave. Even proper, polite _Hinata_ had been laughing at him. She'd been married to the dobe for ten years, and he'd rubbed off on her all wrong, in Sasuke's opinion.

He could never ever show his face in public again, and he was pretty sure the redness from his embarrassment would never fade off of his face.

Sasuke crawls into bed with his wife, face-planting into the pillow. Sakura snorts at him.

"You're being ridiculous. You were just playing with your kids, like a good father."

"There's being a good father, and then there's being a martyr."

"Oh, shut up and come here."

She rolls him over onto his back and plants kisses along his jaw, her hands wandering to places under the covers. Sasuke pushes her away and glares at her. She narrows her eyes at him. You do not want to deny Uchiha Sakura sexy time.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"We're not doing this. This is how we got into this mess"

"What are you talking about?"

"KIDS, Sakura. NO MORE."

She laughs at him and pulls him under the covers, pressing a condom into his hand.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed, favorited and followed. I love you all.


	9. Engagement Entanglement

**Date:** October 15th, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku, SuiKa  
**Prompt:** Mistake  
**Title:** Engagement Entanglement  
**Summary:** Always check the paperwork.  
**Written by:** ebondeath  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note:** I have made myself like Karin. What have I done?! D:

* * *

"I'm sorry, Uchiha-san, but I can't grant you this marriage license."

The entire room goes silent. A dark, angry aura exudes off of the man standing before the clerk, who is suddenly sweating bullets and looking very nervous. Everyone else in the small room has taken a step or two back.

Everyone in Konoha, even the civilians, knows about the last Uchiha. They know about Haruno Sakura, and their upcoming nuptials. So when the clerk denies them a marriage license, they know he's just signed his own death warrant.

"Excuse me?" Sasuke's voice is low, velvety, and dangerous. Onyx eyes flash crimson.

The clerk swallows visibly and shuffles the papers in his hand.

"I-I can't grant you the license. I'm sorry, sir, but there seems to be a conflict here."

"And what conflict would that be?" A calloused hand rests on the hilt of Kusanagi.

"Um...itsaysherethatyou'realreadymarried."

* * *

Two minutes ago, the clerk would have told you that Uchiha Sasuke was the scariest person he'd ever met in his life. Former rogue-nin and apprentice-slash-slayer of the snake sannin Orochimaru, wielder of the Sharingan and the Rinnegan, and now an ANBU operative. There is nothing that is not intimidating or impressive about him.

And then he met Sasuke's fiancée.

The dark aura that had been threatening to choke him is suddenly completely engulfed by the rage radiating off of the petite woman standing behind the Uchiha. The clerk suddenly wishes he had an underground shelter, because he can sense the incoming bomb about to go off.

* * *

"Sasuke."

No suffix. This is how Sasuke knows Sakura is angry enough to kill.

"Our wedding is in. One. Week."

Her voice is too calm. Too controlled. He's probably going to die.

"At what point were you going to tell me that you are ALREADY MARRIED."

Sasuke licks his dry lips.

"I'm not."

Sakura is not in the mood for games, and the arms folded tightly across her chest are his last warning.

"That's not what this nice young man here says."

"Well, he's wrong."

Sakura turns to the clerk, who is trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. She flashes him a brilliant smile. "May I see those documents please?" He stammers an "of course" and she snatches them out of his shaking hands.

Sasuke watches his fiancée's face as her eyes scan the page at an unnatural speed. Her frown turns into a fierce scowl, and he can hear her grinding her teeth. Her face turns so red that Sasuke is afraid she's going to give herself an aneurysm.

When she finally looks back up at him, Sasuke knows the true meaning of fear.

"I am going to ask you one last time, and if you lie to me, I will bury you beneath Hokage Mountain."

Sasuke fully believes this threat.

She sucks in a breath between her teeth. "Are. You. Married."

Sasuke shakes his head. "I have never willfully in my conscious memory married any woman. You are the only person I have ever asked, Sakura."

The tension in her shoulders loosens, barely. She shoves the paperwork at him. He glances down at it.

"This piece of paper says that you have been legally married to one Karin for the last four years."

Sasuke blanches. He remembers the way Karin used to cling to him, begging for attention. The thought of being married to her makes his stomach churn, and he knows there is no way in the seven hells he would have ever willingly consented to any kind of relationship with her, much less marriage.

Not that a silly little thing like consent has ever stopped Karin before.

* * *

They are walking away from Konoha's court house building when Sakura stops and turns to her teammate-turned-lover. He has managed to convince her that he had no part in this sham of a marriage with Karin and that he struggles to remember how this could have happened, and she grudgingly believes him.

She is no less angry though.

"You are going to find her, and you are going to fix this. You have one week, because everything for the wedding has been paid for and is non-refundable."

Sasuke nods emphatically. There is no arguing with Sakura when she's angry. There is only obediance.

* * *

Finding Karin is not difficult using his contacts in ANBU. She is living in Konoha, having been there since the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War. She even has a job at the Academy. Sasuke is vaguely perturbed to realize that he has not kept up at all with the goings-on of his former companions and has no idea what they're doing now.

He stands in front of the door of a small house in West Konoha and hesitates. Karin is a really disturbing girl, and he has no desire to subject himself to her obsessive attentions again. But it's either that or face Sakura's wrath.

Frankly, he's not sure which one he's more afraid of at the moment.

He eventually decides that Sakura's happiness is more important than his trepidation, and quickly knocks on the door before he can change his mind.

He hears a lot of banging and yelling coming from inside the house, followed by a "Just a minute!" A few minutes later, the door opens and Karin's eyes widen in surprise at the sight of her visitor.

* * *

Sasuke is confused.

Sasuke being confused is not a phenomenon that happens very often, as he's a prodigy with a sharp intellect.

But in this case, he can't figure out what's going on. Everything Sasuke knows tells him that Karin should have jumped him like a horny sailor who's been out to sea for ten years. She didn't. She greeted him politely and invited him into her home without so much as an "I love you!" or any kind of bodily contact.

His second point of confusion lies with the other occupant of the house. Unless Sasuke's memory fails him (and it seems to be doing that with alarming frequency these days), Karin and Suigetsu do not get along. They do not speak to each other civilly and send each other little smiles from across the room. And yet they are.

Sasuke's head hurts.

* * *

"So, Sasuke, what brings you here? We haven't seen much of you in the last three years."

Karin offers him a cup of tea, which he declines. It could be laced with some kind of knock-out drug for all he knows. He doesn't trust this boundary-respecting Karin.

"Aa. I have a problem."

Karin sits down at the kitchen table across from him and folds a leg beneath her. She looks at him curiously. "What's the problem?"

"I'm getting married."

Suigetsu lets out a loud bark of laughter. "So you really do like girly bits, eh? I was always betting on it being Naruto."

Glare.

Karin throws a dirty napkin and a glare at her roommate before turning back to their guest. "So what's the problem? I can't see you getting married unless you wanted to."

"...I seem to be married to you."

The room goes very, very quiet.

"Oh. Um..."

"What the fuck, Karin?" Suigetsu launches himself off of the couch and storms out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Shit." Karin's face is in her hands, and she seems mortified and genuinely upset.

"You and him?"

"Yeah."

Minutes pass in painfully awkward silence.

Finally, "I'm really sorry, Sasuke. God, I was such a crazy psychobitch. I bet your girl wants to rip me apart." Karin looks miserable.

"Something like that," he replies mildly. Gone is the psychobitch that Karin used to be, and with her Sasuke's contempt and disdain. "I really need to fix this."

"Of course," she says, a tear sliding down her cheek. "I'll head over to the courthouse this afternoon and have it annulled straight away."

"Karin," he says, without his usual gruffness. "How did we...?"

She smiles ruefully. "You were drunk one day, totally smashed, after...after Itachi. I got you to sign the marriage license. God, I'm so sorry."

Sasuke shakes his head. "It's-"

"Don't say it's fine, because it's not. I know that. But I'm gonna do everything I can to make it right."

He nods. "Thank you."

They both get up from the table, and she shows him to the door.

"And Karin," she looks up at the man she used to obsess over, "you guys should come to the wedding."

She's quite pretty when she smiles.

* * *

"And now it's time for the bride to toss the bouquet. Gather round, ladies!"

Sakura is stunning in her traditional white bridal kimono. The overlying handmade uchikake is a deep scarlet with embroidered cherry blossoms, and her hair is twisted elegantly and held up with beautiful jade combs.

She blushes and smiles proudly, glancing over at her stoic (but smiling for once) husband. She is beyond glad that everything worked out in time for their wedding, and she is not even annoyed at him for inviting his "ex-wife."

Karin has apologized to her profusely many times, and Sakura can not find it in her to hate the girl after she has changed so much. They might even become friends, she thinks.

Sakura launches her bouquet (specially arranged by Ino) over her head, and the crowd of single kunoichi behind her goes wild.

"It's mine!"

"Get out of my way!"

"Move it!"

A catfight breaks out, and the bouquet lands in the hands of an unsuspecting Karin. She looks down at the flowers in her hands in surprise.

"What-hey! Mmph-"

Suigetsu wastes no time in letting everybody know that he knows exactly what the catching of the bouquet means by grabbing his girlfriend and dipping her into a deep kiss.

She flails for a minute before giving in, and the crowd cheers.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I really wanted to end this with "and they lived happily ever after" but I didn't think anybody else would appreciate that level of ridiculous cheesiness. So today I learned that I can reply to reviews and now I feel dumb for not knowing. Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed, favorited and followed. May all your OTPs become canon.


	10. Dancing in the Dark

**Date:** October 16th, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku  
**Prompt:** Chapter 696  
**Title: **Dancing in the Dark  
**Summary: **Hurting somebody and saving somebody is sometimes the same thing.  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Recommended Listening:** Carry Me Down (Acoustic) by Demon Hunter  
**Author's Note:** IT'S MAH BIRTHDAY. And Kishimoto has given me absolutely nothing to work with for this chapter/prompt. I have no plan. So please enjoy this random brain spew.

* * *

Sakura has been this way before.

The route is as familiar to her feet as is the from her apartment to the hospital. From her apartment to Naruto's. To the training ground and the Yamanaka flower shop.

Her feet have never touched this ground before, but her heart knows the way. Knows that Valley of the End will not be just a symbolic name if she doesn't get there on time.

She doesn't kid herself. She knows that she can't stand between Naruto and Sasuke, that no matter how strong she gets, she will never be part of this fight. There is nothing left that she can say to reach them, so all that's left is to show them how much she loves them.

* * *

As she runs with everything she has left, Sakura thinks of Sasuke's face in the moment before he cast his genjutsu. Sasuke is the master of hiding his emotions when he wants to, so she wonders why he's allowed himself to show regret. Her heart aches.

The genjutsu itself was serene, quiet. She had awoken to cherry blossom petals raining from the sky and blanketing the ground. Easing her aching body into a sitting position, she had seen a flickering image off in the distance.

Her breath caught in her throat as she realized that the image Sasuke had left her was the one of her bloody, bruised twelve-year old self holding him back from his curse-seal rampage.

Seconds later, she shattered the genjutsu with renewed determination.

She is not going to allow Sasuke to say goodbye without saying it to her face.

* * *

Sakura reaches the base of the waterfall where her boys are fighting high above. Stopping for a second to catch her breath, she considers her options. Her chakra reserves are very low, even with her Strength of One-Hundred Seal. She has enough to make it to the top, beyond that, she doesn't know.

But she has to try.

Her face set in a hard expression, she steps vertically onto the waterfall. Walking on moving water is a lot more difficult than standing on still water, but the motion acts like a treadmill, propelling her upward. It takes all of her concentration to reach the top, but the sounds of battle from above fuel her drive.

* * *

At the top, she is out of breath, very nearly out of chakra. If she pushes much more, her body will give out. But all she needs is a little bit more.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke are what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object.

Their attacks are primal elemental forces of nature that rend their air, shrieking in fury. The kyuubi's chakra and the static discharge from Sasuke's Raikiri leave a metallic tang in the air.

Sakura knows this scene. She's seen it before on the roof of a hospital, from what feels like a lifetime ago. Two boys, close as brothers and yet so far apart, aiming for each other with impossibly accurate aim. Their hands charged with deadly attacks.

This time there is no Kakashi to stop her.

Somehow, she hears the echo of her footsteps over the screech of the Raikiri and the defeaning roar of the Rasengan. Or maybe that's her heartbeat pounding in her ears.

She has only seconds to wonder how much it will hurt, and then she knows.

* * *

"SAKURA-CHAN."

Black and blue stare in horror at their pink teammate impaled through the chest. There is blood everywhere, and neither one thinks that it will ever wash off their hands this time.

"Sakura-chan, why?!"

"Sakura." Sasuke's eyes and voice are full of panic, an emotion that hasn't been present there since the day he came home to his dead family. "Sakura, heal yourself."

"No."

Her breathing is bloody and ragged, the Rasengan from behind has smashed her ribs and crushed a lung. The electricity from the Raikiri has jolted her heart, which is now working overtime frantically pumping blood as she bleeds out of the gaping hole in her chest. She has precious little time before she drowns in her own blood.

"Sakura, HEAL YOURSELF." Sasuke's eyes are pleading with her now, he is begging.

She smiles at him.

"I...I can't do that...Sasuke-kun..."

"WHY NOT?" he roars.

"This-" she chokes, blood leaking out from between her lips, "this is the price."

He stares at her in horror.

"You-" cough "you want..to take on this darkness...all by yourself." More blood. "That's not how it works, Sasuke-kun." She is struggling to breathe through all the blood now.

"As long as I live...as long as I breathe...and even after...your pain is my pain. Your darkness is my darkness."

Those once sparkling, brilliant green eyes are growing dull and unfocused.

"You wanting to become Hokage...to be the target of everyone's hate...that's a road I can't follow you down. So-"

This coughing fit is worse than the last, and she is very nearly vomiting blood.

"So if that's the road you choose, then this is the road I choose."

"NO. Sakura, NO." Sasuke grips her shoulders painfully hard, but she can't feel it anymore. She's still smiling at him.

"You're not alone, Sasuke-kun. You never have been."

Her smile slips and she goes limp in their arms.

Sasuke stops breathing.

"Sakura?"

"SAKURA?"

"SAKURA, WAKE UP. WAKE UP, PLEASE."

He crushes her ruined body to his and screams, the sound echoing throughout the valley.

Tears slip down Naruto's cheeks as he watches his best friend finally break.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm really sorry this one is so short. I really have nothing here, there was pretty much nothing to work with. I will make it up to you with the next one, I promise.


	11. Family-Friendly Filicide

**Date:** October 17th, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku, NaruHina, ShikaIno  
**Prompt:** Disney  
**Title: **Family-Friendly Filicide  
**Summary:** Just let it go, Sasuke.  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999. I also don't claim to own anything owned by Disney.  
**Author's Note I:** Poor Sasuke. Poor, poor Sasuke. I am so mean.  
**Author's Note II:** I'm so sorry this is late, I was out of town for birthday stuff.  
**Author's Note III: **This is another ficlet involving Sasu-cakes' and Saku-chan's family. So you should read my fics for the prompts **Back Then** and **I Can Explain** if you haven't already.

* * *

Sasuke is going to murder someone.

Probably his wife. Definitely his children.

There is going to be a second massacre of the Uchiha clan, and this time it will be he, Sasuke, who is the insane, sword-wielding murderer. And when Sasuke thinks insane, he means it quite literally because his sadistic family has driven him to this point.

This is all Sakura's fault. _She's_ the one who brought home that damned video. Said it was _adorable_, said the girls would _love it_. She told him it would distract them and give them some much needed _alone_ time, if you know what he means. And it worked.

It worked _too well_.

It worked so well that Sasuke can't go home. He leaves work and goes anywhere else to avoid going home.

* * *

Sometimes he goes to Naruto's, and Hinata cooks them dinner while Naruto regails his two young sons with stories of his heroic adventures in his younger days. Sasuke might have been there too, he says slyly. Sasuke rolls his eyes. Hinata is pregnant with their third child (she insists it's a girl this time, and she will later turn out to be right) and Naruto refuses to let her strain herself (read: do anything), so he is up every five minutes assisting her (read: getting in her way). Hinata is infinitely grateful when Sasuke drags her overenthusiastic husband outside for a spar.

When Sasuke has had as much of Naruto's company as he can take, he goes to Shikamaru's. They play shogi for a while and chat about the various political and criminal goings-on in the village. Shikamaru always wins, but Sasuke likes to think he comes close sometimes. And then Ino comes home from the flower shop with her daughter-slash-miniclone and Sasuke gets an hour-long lecture from his wife's best friend on how he should be treating her and completely unsubtle hints about how Sakura likes an expensive pair of jade earrings she saw in the window of a prominent jeweler's shop.

Sasuke endures Ino's harping because it's still better than going home. Shikamaru must have invented some kind of selective hearing jutsu, and Sasuke vows to ask him about it later.

* * *

By this point, it is 9:30 at night and Sasuke can no longer avoid going home without invoking Sakura's wrath. As he approaches the Uchiha manor, Sasuke hopes that his daughters are already in bed and that the house is quiet. He hopes that Sakura doesn't ask him where he's been because he can only tell her he's been working late so many times.

Sighing, he slides open the front door, hoping against hope-

"LET IT GOOO, LET IT GOOOOO..."

If Sasuke knew the phrase FML, he would use it. Sakura had bought the movie Frozen for their triplet daughters and they had become obsessed with it. They sang that song every hour of every day. Sometimes they sang the other songs from the movie, but mostly it was always _that one song_.

And it wasn't just the singing. No, they had to play-act out the movie, fighting over who got to be Anna and Elsa. The third one out got to be Olaf the snowman. Sakura had bought them all the movie merchandise: dresses, stuffed animals, dolls, the soundtrack, and the Elsa's Ice Castle Dollhouse. Oh, and a sled. A SLED.

But the worst part, the _absolute worst part_, is that his son likes it too. His _son_, who is supposed to be his own replica, cool and aloof, _likes Frozen_. And when the girls play pretend, he pretends to be Kristoff. The one person who is supposed to be on his side and feel his pain has become the enemy. He is one of _them_.

Sasuke now knows the true feeling of despair.

So every night Sasuke comes home to find his daughters, his wife, and his son singing "Let It Go," and they wrangle him into being Sven the reindeer. The girls ride him around the room, telling him to "mush", until they are exhausted and his dignity is sufficiently murdered. Then they are put to bed, but don't fall asleep until they've finished arguing over who gets to sleep with the Olaf plushie.

Minutes later, Sasuke falls into bed himself and he can hear Idina Menzel echoing in his head as he falls asleep.

This has been his life for the last three weeks.

* * *

Sasuke wakes up extra early so he can eat his breakfast in the pristine silence before the dawn. The only sounds are the chirping birds outside and the thud of a knife as he slices a tomato. It is the most beautiful thing he has ever heard (he is not quite sure whether or not to exclude Sakura saying her wedding vows, but the morning quiet is _that much of a relief_).

Speaking of Sakura, he feels her arms wrap around him from behind and her forehead rest between his shoulder blades. She presses a kiss to his bare back and sleepily mumbles "good morning." Smiling, he turns around and kisses her forehead, running his fingers through her hair.

There are a few moments of peace as they stand there holding each other, and then it begins.

"DON'T LET THEM IN, DON'T LET THEM SEE, BE THE GOOD GIRL YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO BE-"

There is a loud crash as Suzuki, Suzuno, and Shizuka race into the kitchen, knocking each other into various pieces of furniture in their rush to get to their Frozen cereal (which is shaped like snowflakes).

"-CONCEAL DON'T FEEL, DON'T LET THEM KNOW, WELL NOW THEY KNOWWWWWWWW-"

Akira rambles in behind his sisters, already dressed to go to the Academy. He grabs a piece of toast and stuffs it in his mouth as he waves goodbye to his parents. Then he is out the door and off to practice his ninjutsu with Uzumaki Hideki and Nara Shikaro before class starts.

"LET IT GO, LET IT GO, CAN'T HOLD IT BACK ANYMOOOORE-"

Sasuke sighs and releases his hold on his wife. It's time to get ready for work anyway.

* * *

Sasuke stumbles out of the KMPD station later that night, completely exhausted. His day has been a mess of capturing a rogue ANBU operative, followed by interrogation of not only the shinobi, but his family and friends as well. And then the paperwork. Oh, the paperwork. An entire mountain of it.

All he wants is to go home and beg Sakura for some of her mother's special recipe tomato soup. And then he remembers what waits for him at home, and he wonders if Kakashi's couch is open.

Sigh. Off to Naruto's then.

* * *

"Hey, teme, back again eh? That's the third time this week." He frowns. "Come to think of it, you've been over here a lot lately. Are you and Sakura-chan having problems?" His cerulean eyes light on fire. "ARE YOU CHEATING ON SAKURA-CHAN AND HIDING OUT AT MY PLACE? BECAUSE I SWEAR IF YOU ARE-"

"Dobe," Sasuke growls. He is not in the mood for this. "I am NOT cheating on Sakura."

Naruto's righteous fury instantly dissolves. He thinks for a moment, and then a smug smile creeps over his face. "I know what it is then. You like Hinata-chan's cooking." Sasuke rolls his eyes and pretends to agree. Anything is better than admitting that his house has become a sanitarium. Naruto grabs his arm and drags him off to the kitchen, where Hinata is making (surprise, surprise) ramen.

Just before Naruto can announce his friend's supposed infatuation with her cooking, Sasuke hears it.

Hinata is humming _that song_ under her breath.

Sasuke knows he can't stay in this house another minute and takes off running for the door.

* * *

_Knock knock knock_.

Sasuke desperately homes that Shikamaru is home. He is here earlier than usual, so the lazy genius might be off on his favorite cloud-watching hill.

He is out of luck, it isn't Shikamaru or Ino who answers the door, but their three year-old daughter Aya.

Aya, who is wearing her blond hair in pigtails and is dressed as Anna.

Sasuke turns on his heel and walks the other direction.

* * *

Sakura is worried about Sasuke. He has come home late every night for the last three weeks and dark bags are starting to appear under his eyes. He is home earlier than usual tonight, and he looks absolutely frazzled.

The girls are running around singing the Frozen song again, and even Akira is singing it under his breath as he tosses shuriken in the back yard. Sakura is bustling around the kitchen getting dinner ready (she thinks it's a tomato soup night, Sasuke looks that bad) and Sasuke is just sitting there at the kitchen table staring blankly at the wall. His eye twitches whenever one of the girls hits a horrible high note.

Sakura frowns. She needs him in a good mood because she has a surprise for him tonight. A very _sexy_ surprise. A timer goes off on the counter and she pulls the soup off of the stove.

"DINNER," she hollers into the house.

A stampede of children comes running into the kitchen and clambering into their chairs.

"Okaa-san! After dinner can we watch Frozen again? Pleeeeeeeease?!"

Three pairs of onyx eyes in angel faces stare pleadingly at her. But this time Sakura must deny them.

"Not tonight, sweetie. You're all going to bed early because Ino-san is going to show you how to weave flower crowns tomorrow." Sakura glances over at Sasuke, who still looks rather ghastly. But he starts to look marginally better as he eats his tomato soup.

Frozen momentarily forgotten (never for more than two minutes), the girls chatter excitedly about their trip to the flower shop in the morning.

* * *

Sasuke collapses face-first onto the bed, grateful for the silence in the house tonight. He doesn't know how much longer he can keep this up. The way he sees it, he has two choices. He can either start renting out a hotel room, or he can tell his family that all things Frozen are banned in his household.

Sasuke snorts into his pillow. May as well buy that hotel room then.

"Sasuke-kun."

He slowly lifts his head from the pillow. Sakura's using _that_ voice, the one she uses when she wants to seduce him. After his horrible day and the hell of the last three weeks, Sasuke doesn't think he has it in him.

Then he finally looks up at Sakura. And stares. And stares some more.

His wife is wearing Elsa's ice queen dress, but it's utterly see-through. Sasuke swallows hard.

Maybe he can give Frozen _one_ more chance.


	12. Little Loves

**Date:** October 18th, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku, lots of friendships  
**Prompt:** Speechless  
**Title: **Little Loves  
**Summary:** Team 7 knows that the love between friends is just as powerful as the love between soulmates.  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note:** Another wedding fic, this one more westernized. Also, apparently there are some "concerns" about my stories. I will address these at the bottom.

* * *

It has been four days, seven hours, and forty-three minutes since Sasuke proposed to Sakura.

Sakura wants a spring wedding, which gives her two months to get everything planned and booked.

She needs flowers, a cake, an officiant, a dress, and someone to walk her down the aisle (Haruno Kizashi passed away two years ago). She will leave it to Sasuke to figure out his best man (as if there were a question of who it would be), a venue for the reception, and a band to play at it.

Team Seven's resident kunoichi smiles fondly to herself as she thinks of each of the friends that she hopes will be a special part of her wedding day, the day she has dreamed of since she was a little girl at the Academy.

* * *

"HE PROPOSED? WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN? HOW DID HE DO IT? TELL ME EVERYTHING, NOW, WOMAN."

Yamanaka Ino is, of course, the first person Sakura tells the news to. They have been friends and rivals since they were children, and if there is anyone who is going to be Sakura's maid of honor, it is Ino.

It also doesn't hurt that Ino's family owns the finest flower shop in all of Fire Country.

"Calm down, pig. He asked me four days ago while we were lying in bed." Sakura smiles and sips her tea, her eyes sparkling with happiness.

But Ino is not satisfied. "Wait, wait, wait. Hold up. You're saying he asked you to marry him in bed after doing the no pants dance? Ugh, totally unromantic and totally Sasuke." The blonde wrinkles her nose in disapproval.

Sakura scowls. "Shut up, it _was_ romantic. It was intimate and sweet, and you're just jealous because Shikamaru's too lazy to propose so you'll probably have to do it yourself."

At that, Ino is on her feet and ready for a (mock) fight. "WHAT DID YOU SAY, BILLBOARD BROW?! I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW-"

"Anyway, are you going to be my maid of honor or not?"

For once, Ino has nothing to say as her mouth snaps shut. Her baby blue eyes water and her lips quiver before she launches herself at her friend in a tackle-hug that Sakura assumes is a yes.

* * *

"Congratulations Sakura-chan, I'm so happy for you!"

Hinata embraces her friend tightly, truly happy for the long-suffering girl. As they let go, she offers Sakura a wide smile that reaches up to her eyes. She knows that it will also make Naruto overjoyed to have his best friends finally tying the knot.

As they walk through the gardens of the Hyuuga compound, Hinata asks when she plans to have the wedding. Sakura looks a bit sheepish when she tells her it will be in two months.

"Oh, but that's so soon! Will you have everything ready in time? Oh, but Sasuke-san might not even want a ceremony. I know he's very private."

Sakura giggles, touched by her friend's concern. "Sasuke-kun agreed to a wedding ceremony. It will most likely be our old Rookie Nine gang invited along with Sai, Yamato, and Tsunade-shishou. And yeah, I'm cutting it pretty close. Ino insisted on doing all the flowers herself, so that's a huge relief for me."

They reach a bend in the path, and stop to admire the artfully arranged peony bushes. Sakura fiddles with the hem of her shirt as if she is nervous and sucks in a steadying breath.

"Hinata, I also wanted to ask you a favor. Well, two actually."

The heiress blinks and smiles at her. "Anything, Sakura-chan. What is it?"

"I'd like you to be one of my bridesmaids. Also, Naruto has told me that you make the most delicious cakes he's ever tasted. Sasuke and I were wondering if you would do us the honor of making our wedding cake."

Hinata claps a hand to her mouth in surprise as her face turns beet red from the double compliment. It's all she can do to nod her reply emphatically before she starts giggling from happiness.

Soon after, Sakura starts giggling too and then they are both a ridiculously happy mess, as only girls utterly in love can be.

* * *

"Dobe."

"IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU ASKED SAKURA-CHAN TO MARRY YOU, YOU BASTARD."

Sasuke sighs. "Can we just go get ramen like normal friends?"

"HELL YES, WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO EARLIER?"

Naruto half-drags his best friend down the street to Ichiraku, rambling about something and Sasuke doesn't even know. Every few feet a "dattebayo!" pierces the air.

As they reach the ramen stand, Sasuke yanks his arm out of Naruto's grip. "Dobe, shut up. I have something I want to ask you." He takes a seat on one of the stools and orders a miso ramen.

"-and I'd better not ever hear about you sleeping around on Sakura-chan or ignoring her or yelling at her because if I find out you are-"

"Dobe."

"-I swear to ramen I'm going to kick your ass all the way back to the Valley of the End-"

"Oi. Idiot."

"-and if she doesn't break your face, I will-"

"Naruto."

"-and I'll get Kakashi-sensei and Sai and we'll-"

"Naruto."

"-two ice picks and a nutcracker-"

"NARUTO."

"WHAT?!"

"I'M TRYING TO ASK YOU TO BE MY BEST MAN."

The entire ramen stand (even Narto) goes silent. The noodles fall out of the blond jinchuuriki's mouth as he stares at his best friend in astonishment.

* * *

"Come in, Sakura."

"Hai, shishou." Sakura stands before her old mentor, the Godaime Hokage (who is rumored to be wanting to step down soon in favor of a younger, more bewhiskered Rokudaime-in-training).

Tsunade smirks at her younger pupil. "So I hear you're getting married. And to the Uchiha boy no less. Good job on taming that one."

Sakura rolls her eyes. "Sasuke-kun isn't _tamed_, shishou, he's just more...mellow now."

"Sure he is. And that technique I taught you had nothing to do with it."

Her former apprentice flushes to the roots of her pink hair. "ANYWAY. I was hoping you would be the one to officiate our wedding."

The older woman doesn't say anything, though her smirk widens. Instead, she pulls out a two small cups and a bottle of sake from her desk drawer. Filling both cups, she raises one to the girl she considers a daughter.

* * *

"So, let me get this straight. You guys...have a band."

"Yup."

"And how long have you been playing?"

"A couple of years. We do a couple of gigs here and there, mostly birthday parties."

"And who does what in this band?"

"Shino's on drums, Lee's on bass guitar and does back-up vocals, and I'm the lead guitarist and main vocals."

Sasuke stares at Kiba.

"Fine, you're hired."

* * *

"Sakura, I'm not sure I'm really qualified to be the one helping you with this."

Tenten looks supremely uncomfortable in the bridal store, a walking arsenal of sharp, metallic weapons amongst delicate lace and tulle wedding gowns.

Sakura grunts from inside the changing room. "It's not that you're the last person I'd ask, Tenten, but Ino-pig's on a mission for the next few days and Hinata is busy with family stuff. I have to get a dress _today_ so that they'll have time to take it in and fix the hemline."

The sounds of a female versus fabric struggle filter through the stall door.

"And I can't ask the guys because they have _no_ taste whatsoever. I _need_ a woman's opinion on this, and you're the only other person I trust, Tennie."

Tenten, who doesn't have much experience with dresses or female friendships, melts a little on the inside at that.

And then Sakura finally emerges from the dressing room in the most gorgeous lace key-hole gown that Tenten has ever seen, and all she can do is squeal and point at the dress, jumping up and down in her excitement.

This is definitely the one.

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei!"

The grey-haired mentor of Team Seven emerges from his favorite tree, the pages of his favorite book unruffled by his descent. His eye crinkles in fondness for his only female student.

"I heard the news. Congratulations."

Kakashi can't help but feel a strong admiration for this student of his, who once spent all of her time chasing the backs of her teammates, and now could hold her own against any of them.

His old heart can't help but be warmed by the smile she gives him as she sits down next to him at the base of the tree.

"I have a special favor to ask of you, Kakashi-sensei."

"Oh? And what's that?"

Sakura goes silent for a few minutes, her face unusually somber as she stares out at the forest. When she finally turns back to him, her smile is gone and there is a certain gravity to her expression.

"I want you to be the one to walk me down the aisle."

His eye widens in surprise.

She continues, "I know that may seem odd. My father's gone, but even if he weren't, you have known Sasuke-kun and I the longest. You know what we've been through and you understand us. You understand me and how I feel about him."

Kakashi nods. He does understand. He pulls her close in a one-armed hug and her brilliant smile returns.

* * *

The ceremony is held outside in the viridian fields of the Nara estate. A white trellis covered in the most beautiful flowers the Yamanakas could grow marks the spot where Tsunade stands. Sasuke stands to her left in his tailored black tuxedo with Naruto to his right.

There is chatter amongst their guests as the music starts playing. Hinata and Tenten, clad in pastel bridesmaid dresses colored two shades lighter than Sakura's hair, begin to make their way down the grassy aisle. Following them is Ino, who is already struggling not to cry.

Then, finally, the bride appears on the arm of one Hatake Kakashi.

And the whole world hushes.

Sasuke doesn't hear anything else until he hears her say the words "I do."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Right, so. My first flames. I'd like to tackle these constructively, but I will probably get snarky. Here we go:

**1)** I do not hate Sasuke. There are times, many many times, when I would like to beat the snot out of him with a halibut, but I don't hate him. He's a complex character, and he's interesting to write (even if I do veer off into OOC territory). I understand that he is a character who, because of the trauma and tragedy he has suffered, does not particularly know how to interact with other people. He needs _help_, more than anything, and while I enjoy using him as a pinata in my stories, I recognize that he has serious mental issues. I feel sorry for him more than anything, and I hope he finds happiness by the end of the manga.

**2)** Regarding chapter 9 (Engagement Entanglement), all I can say is what the fuck to this one. I put Sasuke and Karin in the same story and that somehow makes me a SasuKarin shipper and equates to him nearly cheating on Sakura with her? What? Like, really? I will point out, in case this was somehow missed, that Karin GOT SASUKE DRUNK and married him WITHOUT HIS CONSENT. He did NOT know about it until he and Sakura applied for a marriage license. Furthermore, this event happened FOUR YEARS AGO. Since then, Karin has changed and now regrets what she did. Her crazyness has calmed down and she is in a committed relationship with Suigetsu. THERE IS NO SASUKE/KARIN CHEATING VIBE GOING ON THERE. I did not write it that way, so that's all on you. And now for the one that really bugs me, are you seriously telling me that a girl can't smile, have a guy acknowledge that she's pretty, AND NEITHER HAVE FEELINGS FOR THE OTHER? You are either twelve and/or have zero relationship experience.

**3)** Regarding Chapter 11 (Family-Friendly Filicide), Sasuke did not actually decide to get a hotel room away from his family. It's one of those things you think in your head when you're being melodramatic, but you don't actually mean it. I do it all the time, maybe I'm weird like that. And Sakura is not offering him sex in exchange for doing anything. It was a surprise from her, because she just wanted to. Sakura and the kids don't even know how stressed out he is by their antics. He has not told them how he feels about it BECAUSE HE IS, AS CONSISTENTLY SHOWN, TERRIBLE AT COMMUNICATION.

I would like to remind people that these are one-shots. Some of them have the potential to be multi-chapter fics, but they are not. Which means they are heavily condensed, and you will have to do a certain amount of extrapolating of details. I could probably do a better job of expressing time passage, and it's something I will work on. I apologize for the length of this rant and my bitchiness. Unfounded anonymous flames fuel my bloodlust. ;)

**TL;DR:** If you have any questions or concerns about my stories, please don't hesitate to shoot me a PM either here or on tumblr.


	13. Mutiny Against Misery

**Date:** October 19th, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku  
**Prompt:** Happy  
**Title: **Mutiny Against Misery  
**Summary: **Even ex-avengers shouldn't be alone on Christmas.  
**Recommended Listening:** All You Never Say by Birdy  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note:** I should stop writing these after midnight. I miss sleep.

* * *

There is only a week left until Christmas, and Sakura is unhappy.

All of the gifts for her family and friends have been chosen with care, bought, and wrapped. All of the holiday food has been carefully horded and is ready to be cooked. Konoha is decorated festively, with red and green baubles and tinsel. Mistletoe hangs in unsuspecting doorways, and the eggnog is particularly strong this year thanks to Kiba.

And if all of that isn't enough to put her in a festive mood, Uchiha Sasuke is back in Konoha. The goal she has been working towards for nearly six years, that she has poured her blood, sweat, and (many many) tears into has become a reality.

Still, Sakura broods. Her shoulders slump, and her smile is nowhere to be found.

Of course she's happy that Sasuke-kun is back. The problem is that he isn't.

* * *

Sasuke has been under house-arrest for the last five months. ANBU guards are stationed at all times around the Uchiha manor. He is allowed to have visitors, but he is unable to leave. Groceries are bought and delivered to him, any messages to him from the Hokage or the council are brought to him via courier. The garden in the backyard is as far as he is allowed to venture.

He is a prisoner, trapped inside this house of horrible memories like a caged tiger pacing back in forth in front of the bars.

And even worse, it's near Christmas. The only thing Christmas has brought him for the last ten years is a cold, dark, empty house full of anger and pain. The blood still stains the floor in his parents' room and his tears have bled into every room in this house.

Sasuke doesn't bother to turn on the lights in the evening. Why bother? The light won't illuminate the darkness in his cold, shriveled heart.

* * *

Sakura passes by the Uchiha compound for what feels like the thousandth time this week. She can't shake the feeling that there is something she should _do_. Sasuke has made it clear that he doesn't want to see anyone. This doesn't deter Naruto, who can carry one a one-sided conversation with his brick wall of a best friend for hours, and for whatever reason Sasuke lets him.

But then, Naruto has always been an exception when it comes to Sasuke.

Sakura's hands ball into fists at her sides. She wants to help, but she feels so _useless_. Sasuke has pushed them all away until there is literally an eight foot tall wall between them. He is trapped inside those walls, and no matter what he says, he must be very lonely in there. Lonely with nothing but the echoes of his dead family in every hallway.

That thought makes Sakura angry. His blood family may be long gone, but Team Seven are his family too, aren't they? And Sasuke might not like to acknowledge that fact and even go so far as to deny it, but that doesn't change the truth in it. The bonds he'd tried so hard to sever had never wavered, even in their darkest hour. Even when they had resolved to kill him, it had been out of love. And at the last, Sasuke had acknowledged that connection as they'd brought him home.

Family doesn't give up on each other, not when they're calling for a revolution that threatens to overthrow everything they know and love, and not when they're alone on Christmas.

Sakura's eyes harden in resolve. Sasuke might be stubborn, but she hasn't yet met a wall she couldn't break down.

* * *

"What are you doing in my house."

It is the morning after Sakura made her resolution, and she is standing in Sasuke's kitchen.

"Making breakfast," she replies lightly, flipping an omelet as she does. There is a menacing aura radiating from the man behind her, but she ignores it.

"And who invited you in here." Sasuke takes a step toward her in hopes of intimidating her, but at eighteen Sakura is not to be intimidated. Not by Otsutsuki Kaguya, and definitely not by Uchiha Sasuke.

"I did, now sit down, breakfast is almost ready." She continues to face away from him, sprinkling diced tomatoes over his omelet.

"Sakura." It's a growl this time, and he grabs her by the arm roughly and whirls her around. "I want. To be. Alone." His ebon eyes are coldcoldcold, but her minty eyes are just as cool as they stare right back into his.

"I don't care," she tells him boldly. She easily pries her arm out of his grip and turns back to the cabinets, pulling down two plates. Sasuke stares at her with a mixture of annoyance and bewilderment as she sets two places at his kitchen table and loads an admittedly delicious-looking omelet onto his plate.

Sasuke doesn't remember the last time somebody cooked him breakfast.

"Eat," she commands, and to his own surprise, he obeys.

* * *

Sakura leaves after breakfast, but much to Sasuke's chagrin, she returns later that afternoon with cleaning supplies. She greets him warmly, as if he hadn't manhandled her this morning, and sets about the business of cleaning his house without so much as a glance back at him.

Sasuke resolves to ignore her, annoying woman that she is, and takes up residence in the living room, where he begins the task of sharpening his kunai and chokuto. Not that he hasn't done this plenty of times in the last few months, with nothing else to do, but it allows him to take his mind off of his female teammate.

At least until she starts humming.

The house is normally quiet, given that he is the sole occupant. The sound of blade against whetstone rips apart the silence, but as Sakura begins to hum softly to herself as she cleans, the melody wraps around him like a protective cocoon and his hands forget what they are doing.

He would never admit it to her, but her song is very soothing. For the first time in months, he can feel the sharp edges of his anger easing inside him.

* * *

Sakura has been at his house every day for the last three days. Sasuke has no idea what she is trying to accomplish. She has cleaned every inch of the house, cooked him meals, done his laundry, and even cleared out the dead vines and weeds in the garden.

Not once has she tried to bring up her feelings for him, nor has she asked for any attention from him. She simply demands that he eat when she cooks, and to be allowed to go about her business unhindered.

Sasuke is baffled.

It is two days until Christmas, shouldn't she be spending time with her family? He asks her that afternoon and her response leaves him with an emotion he can't identify.

"We _are_ family, Sasuke-kun," she says to him, "and I won't leave you alone anymore."

* * *

It's Christmas eve and snow has finally started to fall.

Sakura smiles to herself as she pulls the honey glazed ham out of the oven, slow roasted to perfection. Their Christmas dinner is perfect and nearly done. Her boys are in the living room arguing over the finer points of whose jutsu are more powerful, with Kakashi pretending to referee the discussion, but really he's just re-reading one of his Icha Icha volumes.

Naruto is drinking a _little_ too much eggnog, but she lets is slide because it's Christmas and her family is all here together and this is what _real_ happiness feels like.

Sakura calls her boys in for dinner and a loud "whoop!" can be heard from the living room.

During the meal, Naruto manages to eat a metric ton of everything, Kakashi compliments her on her cooking, and Sasuke even manages to frown less than usual. She notices that he even cleans his plate. He catches her eye and nods once, and Sakura knows that that's his way of telling her it was delicious.

* * *

It's late, getting close to midnight, and Naruto is passed out snoring on Sasuke's couch. Kakashi has stepped out, to pay a Christmas visit to his old friends, she knows. Sasuke has offered to do dishes, so Sakura steps out onto the porch, where the snow is gently falling from the sky.

She stands there for a few minutes, just looking up and catching snowflakes in her hands. After a while, the door behind her slides open and Sasuke joins her.

The silence between them is comfortable now as they look out into the darkness. Eventually, she senses him turning to face her.

"Did you mean it?"

She turns toward the sound of his voice.

"Did I mean what?"

He hesitates. It takes him some time to decipher what he's feeling. And still he's not sure.

"When you said that you wouldn't leave me alone anymore."

The snowflakes can be heard falling in the silence as she gazes at his face.

"I'm not going anywhere, Sasuke-kun. Never." Her jade eyes are full of certainty and serenity.

Slowly, she takes a step toward him before putting her arms around him. It takes him a minute to reciprocate, but Sasuke brings his arms up to encircle her slim shoulders. He lowers his head to her shoulder and breathes in the scent of her floral shampoo.

"Stay," he murmurs into her hair, "stay with me. In this house."

He can feel her nod against his chest and his arms tighten around her shoulders. He doesn't know what this is with her, if this is simply what it's like to be family, or friends, but this is something he's never felt with anyone else. Something dangerously close to happiness.

He just knows that with her here, this place is a _home_ and not a mausoleum.

* * *

**Author's Note:** After my one-woman crusade against the flames last chapter, I wanted to take the time to reiterate how much I appreciate everyone who reads, reviews, favorites, and follows. It's a really great feeling to know that people want to read more. I don't know if anybody but me is actually following the prompt calendar, but I'm actually a day behind. I hope to get back on track before the end, but I write these things between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. and I'm losing a lot of sleep so I can't promise that it will happen. But I will definitely keep posting until I fall over asleep on my keyboard.


	14. Absence Anxiety

**Date:** October 20th, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku, Sakura-centric  
**Prompt:** Alone  
**Title:** Absence Anxiety  
**Summary:** They both know the risks of their career choice.  
**Recommended Listening:** Hallelujah, as sung by Kate Voegele  
**Written by:** ebondeath  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note I:** This ficlet will be a companion piece to the next prompt, **Home**. So basically this is part 1 of 2. And as the title suggests, angst.  
**Author's Note II:** Do you guys like these semi-AU future fics? I could do something within the manga timeline, but I feel like that stuff is pretty well covered. Feel free to shoot me your opinions.

* * *

Sakura watches Sasuke's disappearing back at five a.m. on a Thursday morning. He has just kissed her and their newborn son goodbye, and her heart aches.

This is his last mission as an ANBU operative before he retires to run the newly reformed Konoha Military Police Force. Sakura is torn between her pride in him and her worry. Sasuke is not new to these kind of missions, he's been working for ANBU for the last two years. But every time he leaves, her heart stops for a moment and thuds painfully until he returns to her, safe.

The mission he's just left for is a solo infiltration and assassination, and that makes her even more nervous. He has no team to back him up, no one to help him if something goes wrong, no one who knows what to do if he starts bleeding out-

Sakura stops that train of thought and takes a deep breath to calm herself. The baby in her arms is agitated by her anxiety, and she tries to bury it so that she can be the parent that her son needs, rather than the distressed wife that she wants to give in to.

* * *

A week has passed and Sakura does her best to keep her mind off of her husband's absence. She can never help the fond smile that crosses her face whenever she refers to Sasuke as her husband, whether or not it's out loud or in her head. Theirs has been a long, hard road spanning years, and yet what they have now with their fledgling marriage and their son who is three weeks old feels like a beginning. Like starting over.

Their son is a tiny, perfect miniature human being. If Sakura ever begins to forget what Sasuke looks like (impossible), she has only to look at his child. Akira has his father's pale skin and wisps of sable hair. He also has the inky black Uchiha eyes, though his are filled with innocence and wonder where Sasuke's are guarded and wary.

There is no trace of Sakura in him, but she doesn't mind. If something should ever happen to Sasuke (and just the thought of it makes her heart flutter in panic), his physical memory will live on in his son.

* * *

Sakura sighs and rubs her tired eyes. Her hospital shifts have been particularly long and demanding lately, which has meant leaving Akira with her parents. Her next shift begins in five hours, not even enough time to visit him. She needs sleep desperately, having been awake for close to twenty-eight hours.

She misses Akira's tiny fingers and chubby cheeks. She misses the way he smiles at and flails his arms happily when Sasuke holds him. She misses _Sasuke_. She misses his strong arms and the way his eyes flash just before he kisses her.

Stumbling through the front door of the Uchiha manor, Sakura struggles to suppress a sob as she throws her nin-sandals behind her. Not only is she exhausted, now she's emotional. It's much harder to contain her stress and anxiety without the energy to suppress them or her child's presence to anchor her priorities.

She is alone in this huge house, the only sounds are the echoes of her harsh breathing. Sakura barely makes it down the hallway to the bedroom before the sobs are ripped from her mouth. Stumbling into their bed, she clutches Sasuke's pillow tightly and cries.

It's been three weeks since he left and she's heard nothing from him. She doesn't expect to, she knows better than that, but it doesn't stop her from wishing for something, anything to know that he's okay. It's not just about him anymore, or her, or even them together. They have a child who needs them, and even though Sakura knows that raising a child alone is a very commonplace reality as a shinobi, she can't even process the scenario in her mind.

It's another hour before her tears run dry and the lingering scent of Sasuke around her lulls her into sleep.

* * *

Seven weeks, five days, and sixteen hours have passed since he left.

It's late at night and the baby is being fussy, refusing to eat and wailing until he's red in the face. Sakura is nearly at her wits' end. She has cut back her hours at the hospital, offering to train new staff instead of overseeing complicated surgeries. She wants to be at home with Akira, both for his sake and hers.

He's three and a half months old now, and as he grows, so too do the dark bags grow beneath Sakura's eyes. He doesn't sleep through the night without Sasuke there to rock him and Sakura is up every hour pleading with him to hush. Neither one of them gets much rest.

When he finally does fall asleep, Sakura lies in bed staring at the ceiling. She is so tired, but sleep refuses to find her. So she waits alone in the dark, waiting for this endless waiting to end.

* * *

Another week passes, and Sakura hears a knock at the door. She sets the baby on her hip and makes her way down the hall, but Ino has already let herself in. She takes one look at her best friend and shakes her head, clearly displeased with what she sees.

"Sakura, you can't stay cooped up in this house with just you and junior all the time. I haven't seen you in forever." Ino pauses her lecture to coo at Akira, who seems fascinated by her long blonde locks. She tuts and steals her godson out of Sakura's arms, motioning for her to follow.

Sakura shakes her head. "I need to be here, Ino. What if he comes home and I'm not here?"

Ino glares at her. "Then he'll assume you're out grocery shopping or visiting your parents, like any normal person would. _He will understand, Sakura_. You've already done your time waiting for him, six years of it! You're allowed to have a life when he's not here!"

"This is not the same thing, Ino!" Sakura explodes. The baby looks anxiously between them and starts to cry. Sakura pulls him from Ino's arms and tries to soothe him.

Ino sighs in exasperation. "Look, I know you're worried. I know that his is hard on you. But what you're doing, locking yourself in this house, is not healthy."

"Ino, you don't need to worry about me. Sasuke-kun will come home soon and then everything will be fine."

"And if he doesn't?"

Sakura turns away. "Then it won't be."

* * *

Ino eventually leaves and the baby has cried himself to sleep. Much like herself, Sakura thinks. It's not that she thinks Ino is wrong, but Ino doesn't understand the terrible anxiety that chains her to the house. If she were to miss a message from him, or be away if he returns gravely injured and moments away from death, she couldn't forgive herself.

This terrible stasis won't last forever, she knows, just until she _knows_ something, hears _anything_.

And in a way that Sakura definitely _knows_ is unhealthy, being alone in this house makes her feel like she understands Sasuke a little bit more. He spent years alone between these walls, with even less company than she has.

So she does anything to feel closer to him, to ease the ache of missing him until he finally comes home.

**End Part I**

* * *

**Author's Note:** I both love and hate writing angst. It's good catharsis, but it's really hard to make any kind of plot with it. Especially when you're trying not to turn Sakura back into her 12 year old self. Anyway, part 2 coming up tomorrow night. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, you give me the most wonderful rainbows and butterflies, and I may or may not twirl around in my swivel chair and flail my arms when I read them.


	15. Homecoming Hallelujah

**Date:** October 21st, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku, Sasuke-centric  
**Prompt:** Home  
**Title: **Homecoming Hallelujah  
**Summary: **Home is a long way away, but so is his past.  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note:** So apparently people don't like angst. Duly noted. Or I should stop posting these at 2 a.m. But for those of you who ate your angsty vegetables in Part I, here is the fluffy dessert of Part II.

* * *

Sasuke stands over the bloody corpse of his target, surveying the damage he has wrought to the crime lord's body. He sneers in disgust. Good riddance, he thinks. This man has been the biggest pain in his ass since he was handed the mission scroll containing his death warrant.

His first offense had been that his stronghold is located in the furthest reaches of Earth Country. About as far from home as he could possibly go, and Sasuke resents that. The second strike was when he was told that this was to be an infiltration mission before the assassination. Sasuke hates these kind of missions, he'd rather just stick a chidori in somebody's chest and call it a day. Infiltration is time consuming, and time spent earning a dead man's trust is more time that he has to spend away from Sakura.

Sasuke does not and cannot think of Sakura and his tiny son back home while he's on these missions. If he does, he will drive himself crazy and lose focus. The harder he focuses, the faster he can get the job done and go home to them.

He thinks of them anyway, because he misses them terribly. Not in the same way that he misses his dead family, this ache is more urgent and insistent. He can't help but wonder what they're doing without him and whether Sakura is taking sufficient care of herself. It would be just like her to sacrifice her own health to make sure that their son is undisturbed by his father's absence.

Wiping his bloody Kusanagi on the target's clothes, Sasuke smiles with grim satisfaction.

Now he can go home.

* * *

It takes two weeks travel to get from the northern reaches of Earth Country to the border of Grass Country. Unfortunately, Sasuke has to make a side trip to Iwagakure to restock his supplies. This annoys Sasuke greatly as he's looking at another nine days of travel from the border and he hasn't even gotten there yet.

He thinks about the amount of time he's wasted traveling and has to restrain himself from putting a hole in the general store's wall. Roughly three weeks in total will be spent traveling home (and he already spent three weeks getting there). Sasuke's already been away from home for three months. It will be closer to four by the time he actually makes it back.

Assuming that nothing else stands in his way.

Like the group of Oto shinobi that he spots outside the shop's window.

They are in disguise, but Sasuke spent enough time in Otogakure to recognize Orochimaru's old thugs. Sasuke sighs and slips out the back, knowing that he can't in good conscience leave these criminals to wander amongst the general populace.

He will lose another day tracking them to their hideout and dispatching them.

* * *

One more day. Just one more day and he will be _home_.

He's so close to Konoha that he can almost see Hokage Mountain from here. So close that he can practically hear Naruto yelling "dattebayo!" at the top of his lungs like he does on a daily basis. Close enough that he almost convinces himself that he can smell Sakura's favorite perfume.

After a five minute protein bar break, Sasuke decides that he doesn't want to wait until tomorrow to be home. Even though he's tired from pushing himself so hard, he decides he'll keep going through the night and surprise Sakura. She'll be surprised anyway, having not heard from him in nearly four months, but right now crawling into bed with her and just holding her is the best thing Sasuke can think of.

* * *

It's 3:29 a.m. when Sasuke finally makes it to Konoha's front gates. It's 3:47 when he makes it to his own front door and he thinks it's the most beautiful sight he's seen in months. At least until he finds his wife.

He slides the door open as quietly as possible, not even bothering to remove his shoes. He's _that_ impatient. Moving silently from years of practice, he notes that there's not a sound in the house. The baby isn't crying (for once, Sakura would tell him) and the pink-haired kunoichi must be asleep. She wouldn't be waiting up if she weren't expecting him (she would).

Sasuke finally makes it down the hall to the bedroom, the room he's been waiting to get back to since the day he left. Upon entering, he sees the small lump under the bedcovers, confirming Sakura's presence (either that or a very stupid Naruto playing a prank, but that doesn't seem likely).

He stands there for a moment, just watching her chest rise and fall in her sleep. The tension in his chest eases as he remembers that he never has to leave her again. He probably will, he's only retiring from ANBU, not active shinobi duty. But there will be no more dangerous solo missions like the one he's just returned from.

Moving to stand by the side of the bed, Sasuke reaches down to brush carnation bangs away from her closed eyes.

* * *

At the first brush of fingertips, Sakura's eyes fly open. Before she can register what she's seeing, she smashes her fist into the intruder's face.

* * *

Sasuke unleashes a string of profanities as he feels his nose crunch. The blood is streaming down his face and he's blinded by tears. He hears Sakura shriek his name, and then she throws her arms around him, knocking them both to the floor. In the melee, the baby starts crying from his crib in the corner of the room.

Everything is a bit blurry for him at the moment and a massive headache is starting to form. Sakura apologizes over and over as she pulls his hands away from his face, replacing them with her own hands lit up with her green healing chakra.

A minute later and the pain is gone. Sasuke blinks the water out of his eyes and finally he can see the feminine face he's been missing for the last four months. She's holding his head in her hands as the tears are pouring down her cheeks. He can't really hear what she's saying, he's still a bit shell-shocked from her attack.

She's beautiful, but she looks terrible, Sasuke notes with a tinge of anger. He knew she wouldn't take care of herself. The dark circles beneath her eyes are very pronounced, and as he wraps his arms around her and brings her close, he can feel that she's gotten thin.

They stay like that for a while, entangled on the floor, his arms wrapped tight around her and her face buried in his chest as she sobs.

The baby is still crying however, and Sakura makes a move to get up. Sasuke shakes his head at her, picking her up easily and carrying her to the bed. He kisses her forehead, then moves to the bassinet. As he lifts his son into his arms, his heart clenches in both pride and dismay. Pride, because this is _their_ son, the next generation of Uchiha, and look how perfect he is. Dismay, because look how much he's grown in four months and Sasuke has missed all of it.

Akira instantly quiets in his father's arms, settling back into sleep. Sasuke stands there holding him for he doesn't know how long, trying to take in everything that he's missed. Sakura watches them from the bed, her heart full of tender emotions.

* * *

An hour later, they lay in bed together before the sunrise, both of them too exhausted to move. Sasuke's fingers trail lazily over her shoulders, grateful for the feel of her soft skin beneath his. Their legs are entwined and kisses have been exchanged. Soft, tender kisses. Feverish kisses. Passionate, longing kisses. Harsh, angry kisses. And now he can't stop staring at her kiss-swollen mouth, their foreheads touching in the dark.

Sakura drifts off into sleep, her happiness etched all over her face. Her smile remains, even as the rest of her slackens in unconsciousness. Sasuke follows her into the darkness soon after, finally at peace with the world.

* * *

Sasuke doesn't wake until afternoon. The sun is high in the sky, and the other half of the bed is empty. He can hear Sakura in the kitchen, cooking something and singing to the baby. At the present, he is content to lay there and take it all in.

Eventually though, Sasuke makes his way to the kitchen. His mouth waters as he smells his favorite tomato soup, and he can't help himself as he sneaks up behind Sakura and wraps his arms around her.

"Not going to punch me again, are you?" he murmurs against her neck.

Sakura flushes in embarrassment and smacks him lightly with her stirring spoon. Sasuke smirks and moves over to where his son is sitting in his high chair.

"Do you want to feed him?" Sasuke nods hesitantly and lifts Akira out of the chair, being careful to support his head and not jostle him. Sakura passes him a warm bottle.

If anyone still doubted that his cold Uchiha heart had thawed, they would know the truth instantly in that moment. His face, watching his son grasp the bottle as he drinks, is full of nothing short of wonder and astonishment.

When Akira finishes, Sasuke hands him back to Sakura, who is smiling so hard she is crying. He wraps his arms around both of them, beyond grateful for this second chance at having a family. Sakura raises herself up on her toes and kisses his jaw.

"Welcome home," she whispers.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Dedicating this one to the people who review consistently nearly every chapter. You guys rock my socks off.


	16. Questionable Queries

**Date:** October 22nd, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku  
**Prompt: **No Reason  
**Title:** Questionable Queries  
**Summary: **He doesn't need a reason, but there are so many.  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note: **This is late and I'm sorry. I chose sleep over writing. D:

* * *

"Sakura-san! I must ask you the name of your most favorite flower!"

There is nothing particularly unusual about Lee and his random romantic inquiries. Sakura is long used to them and has been patiently enduring them since she was twelve. They are nineteen now, and while Lee has _almost_ grown into his...exotic hairstyle and excessive eyebrows, she is still not interested.

Still, Lee is like an innocent, excitable puppy, and Sakura can't bring herself to kick him.

"Sunflowers," she tells him with a restrained smile.

PING. The brilliant white of Lee's smile is blinding. One of these days it's going to make her blind, and then she won't feel guilty getting a restraining order.

"Sunflowers, such a youthful choice! They stand tall and strong and reach for the sun, just like you Sakura-san!" His smile widens even more, and Sakura wonders where he buys his industrial-strength whitener. As he turns to leave, she calls him back curiously.

"Lee-san, why did you want to know?"

He smiles at her again, but this time there are no blinding teeth, just a genuine smile and a strange gleam in his eye that she can't identify.

"No reason, Sakura-san. But trust that I will put this information to the best possible use!"

And with a salute, he is gone.

* * *

"Oi, Sakura."

Sakura is on her way home from her morning hospital shift when she is waylayed by Konoha's resident genius and master tactician. She and Shikamaru have become better friends in the two years since the war's end, though he usually only directly seeks out her company when he's having problems with his (some would say) high maintenance girlfriend.

"Hey Shikamaru. What's up, did Ino cover your side of the bed in shoes again?" Sakura snickers to herself at the memory. Shikamaru had returned home from a mission, desperately craving sleep, only to find that in his absence Ino had used his half of the bed as a shoe rack for the latest additions to her collection.

Shikamaru scowls, not as fond of that memory. "Nah, I've got something to ask you."

"Um, okay. What is it?"

"What's your favorite color?

Sakura blinks in surprise. She has known Shikamaru long enough to know that he is not a curious person. And even if he were, why would he be asking her about her favorite color now of all times? It seems like one of those things you'd ask early on in a friendship if you really wanted to know.

"Probably red. Why?"

Shikamaru shrugs and scratches the back of his head. "No reason. Any particular shade of red?"

Sakura peers suspiciously at him. "If I had to pick, burgundy. Seriously, what's up?"

Shikamaru is already walking away and waving his hand lazily at her. "Nothing, see you around."

She makes a mental note to ask Ino later whether or not Shikamaru's been feeling off lately and resumes the trek back to her apartment.

* * *

Sakura has almost reached her apartment before she is ambused by Hinata. It's a strange action to think of in conjunction with her quiet, reserved friend, but there's no other way to describe the way that she jumps out from behind a potted plant to appear in front of Sakura's apartment door.

"Sakura-chan, it's so good to see you." Hinata's smile is genuine and her stutter is gone. She seems unusually extroverted today, and Sakura almost wonders if it's one of Naruto's kage bunshin in disguise.

"You too, Hinata. Have you been waiting here long?" Sakura asks as she fiddles with her keys.

Hinata blushes and looks away. "Not at all. I was just...admiring your lovely plant here." She bites her lip for a moment, then her words come out in a rush. "Sakura-chan, if you don't me asking, what's your favorite food?"

Sakura frowns. This is the third random question she's been asked today. Is there some kind of game show going on where there's a prize for knowing the most about her?

"Anmitsu. Is something going on that I should know about? Because-"

"Of course not. Oh,lookatthetimeI'vegotadatewithNaruto-kun. Bye, Sakura-chan!"

Before Sakura can say another word, Hinata is gone. Today has been a strange day.

* * *

Her boots are off and the tonkatsu is frying on the stove. Sakura sighs in happy relief as she sinks down into a kitchen chair, stripped down to her shorts and a tank top. First she had a brutal morning at the hospital, then somebody stole her lunch, and then her friends were acting weird. It's nice to just have some time to be alone and unwind-

knockknockknock.

Sakura sighs. So much for her alone time. She eases herself out of the chair and grudgingly makes her way to the door. Whoever it is better have brought ice cream.

It's probably Naruto looking for free ramen, she thinks as she yanks the door open, and she is not in the mood-

"Sakura."

Blink.

"Shino."

"What's your favorite time of day?"

"Evening, just before sunset. What-"

"Thank you."

And the door slams shut in her face.

* * *

Sakura grumbles as she climbs into bed later on that night. This whole day has been stupid and weird and if one more person asks her some ridiculous question-

ringringring.

"OH, COME ON." The kunoichi rages as she reaches for her phone on the nightstand. She wants to ream out whoever's on the line, but it could be somebody at the hospital so she restrains herself.

"This is Sakura."

"Forehead girl," Ino's voice answers, and Sakura rolls her eyes.

"What the hell do you want, pig?" Examining her chipped mint-green nailpolish.

"Real attractive language there, pinky. Listen, I need to know something."

Sakura groans. "Oh, not you too."

"Shut up, this is important. And I want you to think really hard about your answer."

She sighs and falls back against the pillows. "Fine. What?"

"What's your favorite men's cologne?"

There is a bang as Sakura slams her her against the headboard. "Are you serious right now? No, I want to sleep. Go away." She moves to hang up the phone, but Ino starts shrieking in her ear.

"Don't you hang up on me, Billboard Brow! Answer me or I will come over there!"

The only thing worse than Ino screeching at her over the phone is Ino screeching at her in person, so Sakura gives in. "Fine, I don't know, the Ralph Lauren stuff."

She can picture Ino's look of disapproval because she never picks the right answer. Nevermind that she doesn't have a clue about men's cologne other than it smells good.

"What the hell kind of question is that anyway? Why do you even want to know?"

The Yamanaka makes a noise of dismissal. "If I had a reason, and I'm not saying I do, it would be none of your business. Go to sleep, Sakura."

A minute later, there is a phone-sized hole in Sakura's wall.

* * *

Sakura is dreaming, and it's a wonderful dream. The Hokage is giving her an award for being the greatest medic-nin in the history of ever, Naruto is bowing down to her and promising never to eat ramen again, and Sasuke-kun is leaning in toward her, his face so close-

taptaptap.

Sasuke turns into a woodpecker, pecking at her forehead, which has suddenly grown to an outrageously enormous size. Naruto is stealing her award and proclaiming himself King of the World, and Ino has stolen all of her shoes. Now she's being hauled off to jail for the theft of Sasori's identity-

taptaptap.

Sakura violently startles out of her sleep and turns toward her bedroom window so fast that any lesser person would have given themselves whiplash. Her chakra already being directed to her fist, she throws the window open ready to destroy whoever decided to wake her from her slumber at-she glances at the clock-4:33 a.m.

Of course it's Naruto. Of course.

"Sakura-chan!" he whispers urgently.

The only thing that's that urgent right now, she thinks, is his imminent demise.

"What?!" she hisses.

"What's your favorite love song?!" His face is dead serious. So is hers as she punches him.

"Ow! Sakura-chan, I'm serious!"

"So am I, get out of my house!" Sakura is a volcano about to explode.

Naruto pouts. "Not until you tell me." He attaches himself to her bed post with both arms and legs.

Rage is still burning in Sakura's narrowed eyes. "If I give you a song name, will you tell me what all these stupid questions are about?"

"Who says they're about anything?" Naruto's expression is totally (unconvincingly) innocent.

Sakura sighs in defeat and faceplants onto the bed. "Fine, I give up. My favorite is 'As Long as You Love Me' by the Backstreet Boys. Now go tell my stalker or whoever so I can go back to sleep."

"Thanks, Sakura-chan!" Naruto pauses as he starts to climb back out the window. "Oh, and Sakura-chan?"

"Whaaaaaaaat?" Her groan is muffled by the pillow.

"I'm not saying there's anything going on, but if there were, you would want to stop by training ground three tomorrow around six. G'night, Sakura-chan!"

And then Naruto is gone, leaving Sakura to wonder who slipped acid into her breakfast.

* * *

At approximately 5:50 p.m. the next day, Sakura stomps toward the training grounds. Something is going down, and she doesn't know what it is, but there will be blood. She had to go in for a ten hour shift on three hours of sleep thanks to Naruto and whoever is orchestrating this question game, and Sakura intends to show them no mercy.

She arrives at training ground three with five minutes to spare, and what she finds astounds her.

In the middle of the clearing there is a small table set up, covered with a fine tablecloth. Upon closer inspection, there are two dishes of delicious-looking anmitsu sitting untouched. A clear vase holding a giant sunflower stands as the centerpiece. Even more mystifying, she can hear the Backstreet Boys playing from an unseen stereo.

"What in the-"

"Sakura."

Shivers travel down her spine at the sound of the familiar voice. She must be dreaming, and when she turns around she will definitely not find-

"Sasuke-kun," she squeaks in surprise. And _oh my_.

The last Uchiha is dressed in black slacks and a wine-red button up shirt and smelling deliciously like-

Oh.

_Oh_.

Sakura is speechless. All those questions _kindofalmostsortof_ make sense now. Except that this is Sasuke and he would never-

"Hn."

His hand is at the small of her back and she forgets how to think for a moment. A very enjoyable moment.

"Sasuke-kun, what is all this?"

He shrugs, his eyes never leaving her face.

"Did you do all this for me? But why?"

He is silent for a long moment. "Do I need a reason?"

Sakura struggles to understand, before remembering something that their sensei once said.

"_The only time you need a reason is when you hate somebody._"

And she _thinkshopesprays _that maybe she understands. She slowly shakes her head.

"Hn. Good."

And then he kisses her.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I'm super sorry for the late update. I've been choosing writing over sleep during this whole prompt month, and that hasn't been working out so well for me. So if I'm late updating, it's because I chose to sleep instead. Dx Also, these divider bars drive me crazy.


	17. Wardrobe Weaning

**Date:** October 23rd, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku  
**Prompt:** Chapter 697  
**Title: **Wardrobe Weaning  
**Summary: ** Some things have been a long time in coming (and going).  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note:** Honestly, for this one I was going to just write something about all the female characters I could think of sitting around ogling a shirtless Naruto and Sasuke as they fight, and Sakura and Hinata beating them all off with a broom or something. I don't know. I'm out of ideas for these fight scene chapters.

* * *

The last of the statue debris crashes into the water, and everything quietens as the last of the ripples fade from the water's surface. Haruno Sakura risks a glance toward the top of the waterfall, where the statues of Konoha's founders have been beheaded and destroyed. A cloud of dust hovers over the area.

So much destruction.

Behind her, she hears Kakashi sigh. As she turns around and their eyes lock, both of them wonder the same thing: is the fight over? Who won? Are they both alright? Is one of them dead?

Sakura surges to her feet, fully intent on finding out for herself. Her legs wobble unsteadily beneath her, and Kakashi puts a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head. He wants her to wait, she knows, but how can she? One or both of them might be bleeding out or dying and she could never forgive herself if she couldn't save them.

But Kakashi's hand is insistent, and she returns to her silent vigil.

* * *

It is long after sunset, night having fallen over the valley like a blanket, when she finally sees something or someone moving toward them. This time, Kakashi doesn't stop her as she leaps up, her heart pounding frantically. The shape in the distance is still an unrecognizable blob, but is too large to be just one person.

Sakura has never hoped so hard in her life.

She rushes forward, Kakashi right by her side, running as fast as they dare in the darkness. Soon, they are close enough to make out both messy blonde and spiky jet hair. At the barest glance, both of them look horrible, but Sakura doesn't stop to take in their condition. She keeps running until she is close enough to launch herself at them, tackling them in the tightest hug she's ever given.

Sakura hears their groans of pain, but she doesn't care. They deserve everything they've given each other for being so impossibly stupid. For leaving her behind. For trying to do everything on their own. Tears are running down her face in torrents and soaking their shirts and she doesn't even realize that she's yelling at them as she uses her strength to hold them together.

She's never ever going to let either one of them go again, no matter how much they fight her.

* * *

"Geez, Sakura-chan, couldn't you go easy on us? You're so strong." Naruto smiles weakly at her, clearly exhausted and pushed beyond his limits. He's barely standing, swaying back and forth on the spot, and Sakura feels a tiny pang of guilt for having squeezed him so hard.

Kakashi finally convinces her to let them both go and tend to their injuries. She almost refuses, because even though she loves her boys more than she loves anyone else in the world, she is angry. Angry that they have to have this fight over and over again, angry that they never see that this isn't just about them, it's about all of them. Hurt because she wants to matter to them as much as they matter to each other.

She heals Naruto first, because she needs time to figure out how she feels toward Sasuke. She refuses to look at him for the moment, because she knows if she does her heart will override her. He left her in a genjutsu when he could have just killed her, and she doesn't know what that's supposed to mean. She is reminded of their genin days when he always used to protect her, even if he did find her annoying.

Carefully, she mends Naruto's broken ribs, making sure his lungs weren't punctured. She heals the gashes and the burns, but leaves the bruises. Let them serve as a reminder of what he's fought for.

* * *

Finally, it is Sasuke's turned to be healed. Sakura has never been this nervous about treating a patient before, even when they were some of the finest specimens that Konoha has to offer. But none of them were ever _Sasuke-kun_, and that makes a world of difference. Sakura takes a deep breath and allows herself to really look at him now.

And she stops short. Something is different, drastically so.

Her hands are raised, her glowing green Mystical Palm technique at the ready, but she is frozen.

Sasuke is looking into her eyes intently, his expression serious. He moves in front of her, grasping her wrists so she is unable to use her hands. He doesn't notice her stiff posture as he begins to speak.

"Sakura."

Sakura thinks she may have heard the sound of her name, but it's inconsequential next to this hugely relevant detail that she's noticed about Sasuke. She wonders if he's even realized it.

"...this whole time, I've been trying not to feel anything. But every time I swore I felt nothing, I thought of the night I left and what you said..."

Her eyes glaze over as she continues to stare unabashedly at Sasuke. She wonders what this means for the future, if he will continue on this way or go back to the way he was. He's saying something, but she is still too shell-shocked to register the words.

"-and then I saw you outside Orochimaru's lair and I was forced to acknowledge how much you'd grown up...how much you'd changed-"

The change is so mind-boggling that Sakura is having difficulty making sense of it. She wonders what the other will say, whether it will affect their opinion of him. She had thought before that her love for him was overwhelming, but _now..._

"-and I wondered if you still felt the same-"

Does he really not notice how much of a difference this one thing makes in him? Is he that oblivious?

"-On the battlefield, I was...impressed by your prowess. You really have gotten stronger. Strong enough to take care of yourself, without me-"

Does he feel any different? Maybe this is enough to enable him to make a new beginning, without that holding him back and bring him down.

"-I'm sorry for the genjutsu. I just wanted to protect you. From me. And I knew you'd find your way out."

This is the start of a new era, she can feel it. This change is for the better and Sasuke will be a better person for it. This is the catalyst. This is the moment when everything changes.

"You're beautiful, Sakura."

Is he still talking? Oh god, she hasn't heard a word of what he's said. What if it's important? Nah, he's probably telling her how annoying she is.

"I lo-"

* * *

"Your skirt's gone," she blurts out.

Sakura's face glows beet red. She wasn't going to say anything, but its absence was so overwhelming that she couldn't help it. Then she looks down and finally notices Sasuke holding her wrists. When did that happen?

Sasuke stops speaking mid-sentence and gapes at her.

"Did you hear anything I just said?"

She flushes sheepishly. "Um..."

Naruto and Kakashi are snickering behind them.

"I was trying to tell you-"

Naruto explodes into laughter, rolling around on the ground with tears in his eyes. Sakura is confused and Sasuke looks angry. "Sakura-chan, teme is trying to confess that he loves you and you're ignoring him."

He breaks into a fresh peal of hysterical laughter, and Sasuke walks over and kicks him in his recently healed ribs. Naruto's laughter turns into painful wheezing.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura glares at him disapprovingly.

Sasuke glares back at her. "Well if you don't want to hear it, then fine. I won't say it again."

He turns away and Sakura panics. She can't blow her only chance to hear him say the words she's long ago given up on hearing. She darts forward and hugs him from behind, burying her face in his back.

"Say it again, please. I'll listen this time, I promise."

He turns to face her, her arms still wrapped around him. His intense gaze has her heart pounding erratically and her breath short. She feels his arm come around her, his hand climbing up her spine to rest on the back of her neck. His thumb flicks out to caress her jawline and his face is so close that her breathing has stopped entirely.

"TEME AND SAKURA-CHAN SITTIN' IN A TREE, K-I-S-S-"

* * *

One application of One Thousand Years of Death Later, Naruto is sufficiently subdued and being used as a seat cushion by Kakashi, who is watching his other two students with something resembling fatherly fondness. Sakura is not the only one who has been waiting a long time for this.

* * *

Sasuke's thumb brushes over her bottom lip with a gentleness that Sakura did not know he was capable of. From there, his hand moves to cup the side of her face. His expression is concerned, but not uncertain. He is sure of her feelings for him, and if his current behavior is anything to go by...

He leans down oh-so-slowly, in that graceful Uchiha way of his, and his soft black bangs brush her cheeks as his lips slide over hers as if they were meant to be there.

Sakura's heart stops and her eyes flutter shut. He's kissing her and this can't be real, this would never happen, but _oh it is_, and even though this is the first time for both of them and they're both trying to figure out how to fit their mouths together, it's the most wonderful thing she's ever felt and she could melt right here.

Even though they are messy and dirty and broken, Sakura has never felt so alive as she opens her mouth to let him in, returning every stroke of his tongue with one of her own, telling him she is his equal. He acknowledges it by pressing his mouth harder against hers and tightening his grip on her, saying that he knows she won't break.

Eventually, they break away for air, panting hard with their gazes locked on each other. A lazy smirk creeps up onto his face and Sakura can't help but to return it with a grin of her own. She leans forward and presses her ear against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. It's beating as fast as hers.

"So, you really like me better without the skirt?" Sasuke's chest vibrates with the resonance of his deep voice.

Sakura chuckles. "It's definitely an improvement."

Sasuke sighs. "Hn."

She looks up at him again. "Will you be coming home with us, Sasuke-kun?"

He thinks for a minute, then nods.

Tears prick the corner of her eyes, and she squeezes him tight. Sasuke rolls his eyes, but he's almost smiling.

"You're so annoying."

"I love you too, Sasuke-kun."

* * *

**Author's Note:** I really expected this one to end up as crack, and somehow it didn't. I'm rather proud of myself. This chapter is dedicated to the sauce skirt, who absolutely nobody will miss. And just so everyone knows, even though I'm a day or so late, I have no intention of not finishing these. I will be doing every single prompt on the calendar, I promise you that. Pinky swear. I may take a day between updates to catch up on sleep, but it won't be more than that. So don't worry that I won't finish. I will. :)


	18. Love Tunnel Liaisons

**Date: **October 24th, 2014  
**Pairing: **SasuSaku, NaruHina, ShikaIno, NejiTen, ShinoTema  
**Prompt: **It Was Fate  
**Title: **Love Tunnel Liaisons  
**Summary:** AU. Probably a bit OOC. Sometimes love is a sure thing, even when it's a shot in the dark.  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note I:** The best part about writing AU is that Neji gets to be alive, and no Naruto story that mentions anything about fate is complete without Neji. YOSH.  
**Author's Note II:** This fic is very loosely inspired by the Cheese Festival episode of Hey Arnold!.

* * *

Sakura _loves_ carnivals. The lights, the music, the games, the rides! And there's always cotton candy and giant pretzels and funnel cake (which is the bane of her thighs). Yes, she is 22. No, she doesn't care that carnivals are for "kids." This particular carnival comes to Konoha every year, and every year she is here playing every game and riding every ride.

Her dorm room back at Konoha University is packed with stuffed animals that she has won over the years. She is a master of knocking over the bottles with a baseball, the ring toss, and the water gun racing games. The game vendors dread seeing her because they know that she will win the best prizes while spending the least amount of money.

And then there are the rides. Sakura loves the ones that take her up high in the air and give her a bird's eye view of the world. Naturally, the ferris wheel is her favorite. She saves that one for last, because once she's finished riding all the other rides and playing all of the games, she will board the ferris wheel and admire the city lights until the carnival closes for the night.

This year, as she enters beneath the brightly colored sign, she spots something new.

* * *

Sasuke _hates_ carnivals. They're loud, noisy, smelly, and full of _people_. And crowds of people mean _fangirls_. And even if you don't take into account all of the crazy females who hang all over him pawing at him and screaming his name, the games are obviously rigged and the rides are creaky death traps. _Especially_ that ferris wheel that looks like it could fall over at any minute.

So why is Sasuke here, when he could be studying for his big chem exam or squeezing in a workout before a blissful night alone with his Xbox?

Two words: Uzumaki Naruto.

Tonight is Naruto's first date with the girl he really, really likes, who also happens to be from a wealthy family. Hyuuga Hinata is pretty, petite, and shy, and Sasuke has no idea how she puts up with his idiot best friend.

Naruto has no experience with girls and is a complete nervous wreck. He begged, pleaded, blackmailed, and bribed Sasuke until he finally agreed to come along for moral support. Sasuke's version of moral support involves keeping as much distance as possible and occasionally sending the dobe a text telling him for the love of all that is holy not to do what he's about to do.

Sasuke sighs and runs his hand through his hair. Tonight is going to be a long night.

* * *

Sakura squeals in delight as she approaches the new booth. The tent is a periwinkle blue covered in glittery gold stars and moons, and the sign outside advertises a fortune teller. Sakura doesn't believe in hocus pocus and psychic abilities, but she loves the idea of whimsy and playing pretend. So she doesn't hesitate to open the tent flap and go inside, leaving two coins for the fortune teller's fee in a china jar on the table.

As she sits down at the small table, the rear tent flap opens and a tall woman swathed in shimmery robes enters, her face covered by a veil. Her long chocolate hair is held back by voluminous, colorful scarves. Sakura is fascinated by her eyes, which are a pupil-less milky white, but she does not appear to be blind.

"Greetings," the woman intones in a husky voice, "look into the crystal ball, and I will read your fortune."

Sakura gazes excitedly into the glowing orb in front of her, insanely curious about what the fortune teller will "see." The woman waves her hands around the crystal ball and mutters an incantation, her deep voice entrancing.

Impatient, Sakura demands to know what she sees. The fortune teller continues to gaze into the crystal for another moment, before slowly raising her pale eyes to Sakura's emerald ones (she knows it's just for dramatic effect, but she still feels a shiver up her spine).

"I see a long, dark tunnel, and a boat. You will meet your heart's other half there. This is the destiny I see for you." The woman relaxes back into her chair, eyes closing.

Sakura tenses in excitement. A long, dark tunnel? That can only be the Tunnel of Love! And while she knows that this girl is a hired actress paid to tell her generic fantasies that young girls want to hear, she feels the inclination to visit the Tunnel of Love, just for giggles and amusement. She won't find anybody, she knows, but she may find some fun.

She thanks the fortune teller enthusiastically and drops more coins into her tip jar.

* * *

A fit of giggles erupts from behind the starry tent as the "fortune teller" emerges, ripping the gauzy veil and scarves off of "her" head. A tall girl with brunette hair twisted into two buns on top of her head sits on the ground laughing at her companion.

Neji scowls darkly and shucks off the rest of his ridiculous costume. "I'm glad you're so amused, Tenten."

Tenten wipes tears from her eyes and picks herself up off the ground. Neji continues grumbling as she wraps her arms around his neck and touches her nose against his, her grin taking up her whole face.

"Don't worry Neji, you're a very attractive fortune teller. Even with the dress on, you're still very, very manly." She pecks him on the lips. Her boyfriend growls and wraps his arms around her waist possessively, lifting her chin with his fingers so he can kiss her more deeply.

In between heated kisses he mutters, "I see a lot more of this in your future."

* * *

After emerging from the fortune teller tent, Sakura makes her way between the game booths, occasionally stopping to throw darts at balloons or win at bean bag toss. Just as she's lustily eyeing the funnel cake vendor, she spots two very familiar faces. And with her pink hair, she is recognized as well.

"FOREHEAD GIIIIIIIIIIRL."

Yamanaka Ino makes her way through the crowd toward Sakura, dragging her grumbling pineapple-haired boyfriend with her. Without relinquishing her grip on Shikamaru's arm, she pulls Sakura into a one-armed hug and gives her an air-kiss by each cheek.

"I knew I'd see you here, pinky. What are you doing wandering around by yourself? Where's your date?" Ino, the queen of criticism.

Sakura rolls her eyes. "There is no date, Ino-pig. And I'm going to the Tunnel of Love."

Ino's interest is immediately piqued and her baby-blues sparkle with delight.

"Did you forget the part where you don't have a date? But I'll ignore that because the Tunnel of Love sounds perfectly romantic, doesn't it Shika?"

Shikamaru sighs. "Whatever, at least it's dark in there. Maybe I'll be able to get a nap in."

Sakura huffs. "Who says I need a date to ride it? And anyway, maybe I have ulterior motives."

Blue eyes narrow. "Tell me."

So Sakura tells her about what the fortune teller said, and Ino is immediately on board.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO?! LET'S GO, WE'RE GONNA GET YOU A MAN!"

And then Sakura has become part of the Ino-train as the blonde drags both her and Shikamaru behind her.

* * *

"Teme, pleeeeeeeaaaase. I _need_ you in there!"

Naruto has broken out the most pathetic, needy puppy face in his arsenal. He is on his knees clutching at Sasuke's shirt, begging him to accompany he and Hinata on the one ride that Sasuke refuses point blank to go near.

"I can't blow this, man. This is my _shot_!"

Sasuke shakes his head in disgust. "You don't need my help to make out with your girlfriend in the dark."

But the blonde boy is persistent.

"This is the last thing I'll ask you to do, I promise. After this one ride, you can go home and I won't bother you for a whole week! I swear!"

Sasuke considers this offer. The idea of a whole week of peace and quiet is very, very tempting (if unlikely. They're roommates.). Besides that, if Naruto manages to somehow impress this girl, he'll be spending a lot more time with her and then there will be bonus peace and quiet time.

Sighing, he shrugs his acquiescence. Naruto cheers loudly and drags him over to the line for the Tunnel of Love. There are three lines, one for couples, and two for singles. Because there are no single riders allowed, the singles line is divided by a tall fence. Ladies stand on one side of the fence, and gents on the other side.

Reluctantly, Sasuke joins the single men's line and pulls the hood of his crimson jacket up over his hair, hoping that none of his fangirls recognize him. He can hear some of them gushing on the other side of the fence and absolutely dreads getting stuck on this ride with one of them.

After a few moments of waiting, Sasuke is next in line behind a guy that he recognizes as Shino, one of the guys in his computer classes. He is paired with a girl that Sasuke vaguely recognizes as Temari, captain of the girls' basketball team at KU. Shino offers her a hand as she steps into the boat, and she accepts warily.

Then it's Sasuke's turn and anxiety grips him. The girl he gets paired with could be a complete psycho and a stalker. He should bail out now before they find his body in a dumpster later-

The ride attendant motions him forward, and as Sasuke steps away from the fence, he sees the girl. She is short with cotton candy pink hair and anxious mint-green eyes. She doesn't _look_ psycho, but they never do.

He offers her his hand suspiciously, and she thanks him with a gorgeous smile as she steps into the little white boat. As they seat themselves, the girl offers an introduction.

"I'm Sakura." As he takes in her appearance, Sasuke acknowledges that the name definitely suits her. "Sasuke," he grunts in return.

* * *

_Ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmygosh, he is so gorgeous_. Sakura tries very, very hard not to stare at the hunk she's sharing a boat with. A boat _in the Tunnel of Love_.

And suddenly she remembers the fortune teller's words and nearly gasps out loud. Her heart thuds loudly and her insides are doing cartwheels and backflips.

_What if this is him? What if this is _**the** guy?!

It's difficult to be skeptical when there's a very attractive, well-groomed, athletic looking, twenty-something hottie sitting next to her. Of course, she thinks despondently, that doesn't mean that he finds her attractive.

But what are the odds?

* * *

She's staring at him. Or rather, she's pretending not to, which Sasuke supposes is better than the naked lust he sees in the predatory gawking of most girls. And he's pretending not to stare at her too, so he can't really judge her at this moment.

After riding in silence for a few moments, she decides to fill it with conversation so that it will be less awkward. The pink and white heart-shaped lights glitter around them as she tells him about her interests and her major at KU (pre-med). She likes carnivals, old black and white movies, and bubble tea.

Sasuke finds himself listening because he likes the sound of her voice. It's soothing, like his mother's. When she's done, he surprises himself by telling her about himself, about his criminal justice major, his internship at his father's precinct, his interest in computers and basketball.

Every time she smiles in response to something he said, he feels the urge to make her do it again.

Sooner than he expects, the ride is over and they step back out into the music and garish lights. Naruto completely forgotten, Sasuke decides to act on an impulse and asks her if she wants to continue hanging out.

Her brilliant smile and a nod is his answer.

* * *

Sakura is freaking out. He wants to hang out. He wants to hang out with _her_.

She makes a mental note to go drop a twenty into that fortune teller's jar.

"So," she starts, "What do you want to do?"

He shrugs. "Whatever you want."

Sakura doesn't need to be told twice, and she leads him over to one of her favorite game booths: the baseball toss. The object is to knock over the milk cans with the baseball, and Sakura is a pro. She used to play softball in high school and knows very well that the game is rigged and that the cans stick together more easily than they should.

But Sakura hasn't been top of her class for the last fourteen years for nothing. She knows exactly where to aim and how fast to throw the ball to knock the cans over. She pays for a ball, turns back to Sasuke, and winks. "Watch this."

The attendant, recognizing her, sighs in resignation.

Taking a deep breath, she brings her arm back in preparation for the throw. Sasuke watches her intently as her arm snaps forward, releasing the ball. The ball smashes into the cans at just the right spot, and they tumble to the ground.

Sakura jumps up and down, clapping her hands in excitement as the attendant hands her a large, coiled blue snake stuffed animal. She smirks at Sasuke.

"Piece of cake."

* * *

Sasuke is impressed. Most guys can't even knock the cans over, and they end up spending more and more money on trying as they get progressively more frustrated. He watches as she gushes over her prize, a ridiculous blue snake, and he can't help but find her cute.

But now it's his turn to impress her.

He motions for Sakura to follow, and he heads for the target shooting game.

The targets are attached to cartoonish looking villains that move back and forth. The bottom row has the largest targets, is the closest to him, and moves the slowest, while the top row is the farthest away and has the smallest targets and moves the fastest. The middle rows have targets of various sizes and move at speeds in between.

Smirking, Sasuke hands the attendant the movie and lifts the old-fashioned air rifle, testing its weight. He spends a moment adjusting his sight and aim, then nods at the attendant, who starts the machine.

He pulls the trigger with rapid precision, hitting every single target.

The attendant gapes at him for a moment, and then pulls a large stuffed pink slug. Sasuke smugly presents it to Sakura, who accepts it with a large grin and a peck to his cheek.

* * *

After declaring themselves King and Queen of the Carnival Games, Sakura buys a large stick of pink cotton candy. She offers some to Sasuke, who refuses, saying he doesn't like sweets.

"Hm," she munches happily, "what's next? Rides?"

Sasuke glances at his watch. "It's getting late, after ten. This place closes at eleven. So we've got time for two, maybe three if the lines are gone."

Sakura shakes her head. "If it's already that late, then there's only one ride that we have time for."

Sasuke raises an eyebrow as she eats another mouthful of cotton candy.

"And what would that be?"

"The ferris wheel."

* * *

"Don't worry," she tells him, "it's perfectly stable."

Sasuke is looking a little green as he gazes up at the giant wheel. Maybe he has a problem with heights. Sakura hands their tickets to the attendant and grabs his hand, pulling him into a car. The door is locked behind them, and Sakura smiles at him, giddy with excitement.

This is her absolute favorite part of the carnival, she informs him, and Sasuke can tell it's obvious by the way she looks around in awe as the car rises into the air.

As they ascend, Sasuke notices that his hand is still encased by hers.

After a few moments, they reach the top and the ride pauses. By now they are the only two left on the ferris wheel, and they are given a few extra minutes at the peak.

Sakura is beaming with happiness as she stares out at the twinkling city lights. Unconsciously, her hand squeezes his and Sasuke looks down at them. Slowly, be brushes his thumb over the back of her hand.

She starts suddenly and her gaze locks on to his. They stay like that for a few moments, gazing at each other as he gently massages her hand. Slowly, oh-so-slowly, they both start to lean forward.

As they do, the weight shift impacts the balance of the car, and Sakura is thrown forward against Sasuke's chest. She clutches at him as the cart swings back and forth, her eyes shut tight. Sasuke puts his arms around her to hold her steady.

When the car finally stabilizes, they hear a voice shouting from down below. It's the attendant, telling them that there was an electrical short and that the ride is currently stuck. The electrical engineer is on his way.

Sasuke groans and leans his head back against the seat.

"This must be karma catching up with me."

Sakura quirks an eyebrow at him. "For what?"

Sasuke chuckles. "I left my best friend alone with a girl that he doesn't know what to do with."

Sakura giggles, but shakes her head at him. "I don't think that's what this is."

"Oh?"

She nods firmly.

"I have it on very good authority that this is fate."

She pulls his head down to kiss him and Sasuke agrees.

* * *

**Author's Note: **DID YOU SEE THE THING I DID WITH THE STUFFED ANIMALS? Of course you did, because you're awesome. This one's my longest yet, and I'm very happy with it. Hope you all loved it too!


	19. Birthdays and Blossoms

**Date: **October 25th, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku, Team 7ness, Friendship all over the place  
**Prompt:** Bonds  
**Title: **Birthdays and Blossoms  
**Summary: **Sasuke will always need a nudge in the right direction.  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note :** Because I just love the idea of the Konoha 11 trying to help Sasuke get Sakura.**  
**

* * *

"Teme!"

"Dobe."

"Sasuke."

"Hn. Kakashi."

"Traitor."

"Clone."

"Lee!"

Four pairs of eyes swivel toward Konoha's Junior Green Beast, and after an awkward moment of staring he sheepishly slinks away.

Sasuke sighs and sets his chopsticks down. The other three men of Team Seven have cornered him in Ichiraku, and that can only mean one thing:

Another team-building exercise. Sasuke groans.

Kakashi takes the stool to his right while Naruto sits directly to his left, with Sai on his other side. Naruto turns to him and stares directly at his face, his expression disturbingly serious.

"Sasuke-teme, do you know what day three days from now is?"

His best friend's voice is grim, without a hint of his usual cheerfulness.

Sasuke fiddles with his chopsticks, prodding his food to avoid looking at Naruto. "I'm going to go with Friday."

Kakashi bonks him on the back of the head. "While you're not wrong, you're missing the significance."

The Uchiha rolls his eyes and swallows another mouthful of his tomato-covered ramen.

"What significance and why should I care?"

Sai has to hold Naruto back before he can assault his socially stupid friend.

"Sasuke, you bastard, it's Sakura-chan's birthday!" Naruto breaks free from Sai's grip and gets right up in Sasuke's face. His cerulean eyes narrow dangerously, and the tone of his next words is far softer and more threatening than his previous blustering yell.

"You've missed the last five of her birthdays, and you're going to make sure that this one is the best one she's ever had, or I'm going to-"

"That's enough, Naruto." Kakashi gently pries Naruto away from an alarmed Uchiha. "I agree that you should do something for Sakura for her birthday. You've been working to rebuild your bonds here, and you've made good progress with Naruto and myself. I recongize that Sai is a lost cause with you, but your relationship with Sakura is woefully distant."

Sasuke coughs uncomfortably. It's true that he and Sakura haven't had much interaction since his return to Konoha, but that wasn't necessarily his intention. Sakura has been extremely busy with the hospital and the medic-nin corps, and Sasuke has been under probation and working off his community service hours (of which there are many).

His relationship with Naruto is better than ever and Kakashi's presence as a mentor is somehow comforting. But even Sasuke, who has typically avoided interaction with females for most of his life, admits that Sakura deserves better than this limbo that they've been living in.

Sasuke pushes his unfinished food away and nods, his jaw clenched.

Naruto grins at him smugly. "Good. I'll even help you."

* * *

"Ino's throwing a huge party since it's Sakura-chan's eighteenth birthday, so you're off the hook for that. But you need to get her something amazing, something that will blow her away!"

Naruto's twilight zone seriousness is gone, and he's chattering enthusiastically about all the things that Sasuke should do for Sakura. Most of his ideas are grandiose and over the top, such as Sasuke dressing himself up (or down) as a stripper and emerging from a giant birthday cake, or covering every surface in her apartment with rose petals.

An idea strikes Sasuke, and he pauses mid-step. Naruto, completely absorbed in his own brainstorming, doesn't notice until he hears Sasuke mutter something incoherently. He stops and looks back toward Sasuke, looking puzzled.

"Eh? What was that, teme?"

Sasuke's brow furrows as he mutters, "...flowers."

Naruto's face brightens and his face is overtaken by a cheeky grin. "You like the roses idea, eh? I know just the girl to see about some flowers!"

Sasuke looks up, confused, as the blonde grabs his arm and starts dragging him down a side street. "What? No-"

Too late.

* * *

The bell above the door rings as a customer enters her family's flower shop. Spring is the busiest time of her for florists, and Yamanaka Ino is occupied with a half-finished anniversary arrangement when she hears the voices of two men bickering behind her. She smirks.

The voices are familiar, and she knows exactly whose birthday is in three days. Those boys have good sense in coming to her.

Ino whirls around, looking like the cat that swallowed the canary. Hands on her hips, she clears her throat loudly. They immediately go quiet, Sasuke looking disgruntled while Naruto is full of excitement.

"Ino! Sasuke here wants to fill Sakura-chan's apartment with rose petals! Can you help us out?!"

Ino's eyes immediately fill with dreamy sparkles as she thinks about how lucky her best friend is. _Finally_ Sasuke is seeing some sense and learning some romance. About damn time. Shaking herself from her reverie, Ino flips her hair smugly.

"Well of course I can! You've come to the right woman. Now, doing her entire apartment is going to take a lot of roses. Do you want to stick with an all red palette, or do you want to add some pink and white?"

Sasuke stares at her blankly. Ino sighs internally. Even though he's making progress, he's still no Prince Charming. So she turns to Naruto instead. "Alright fox boy, what do you think? Since Sasuke has apparently reached his romantic limit for the day."

A large vein throbs in Sasuke's temple.

Naruto ponders for a moment, holding his chin between this thumb and forefinger. "Red! For Sasuke's sharingan!" He winks at said sharingan-user, who does not look amused at Naruto's wittiness.

Ino writes something on a notepad. "Red it is! I'll go ahead and put the order through right now, but it will probably take a little time, since we'll have to get roses from some of the other flower shops in town. That's a lot of roses. Now, how do you want to pay for this, Sasuke?"

"Now wait a minute-"

"Don't try to haggle with me, Uchiha, I know you're loaded."

Sasuke growls and grabs the notepad. "Just forget the flowers, I want to do something else."

Two sets of blue eyes glare at him. The aura of fury radiating off of them fills the room and at this moment Sasuke may or may not be fearing for his life. Swallowing a large lump in this throat, he admits defeat.

"Hn, fine. I'll do the flowers, but there's something else I want to do."

The menacing aura immediately dissipates, and Naruto and Ino cling to each other, stars in their eyes.

"TELL US NOW."

* * *

As Sasuke explains what he wants to get for Sakura, Ino melts into a puddle of gooey happiness. His idea is absolutely perfect, and she wonders at the idea that it was _Sasuke_ of all people who thought of it.

Straightening, she yells at her mother in the back room, "MOM, I'M GOING OUT. WATCH THE SHOP."

Burning with the fires of potential romance (otherwise known as Operation: Hooking Up Her Best Friend With the Guy She's Been in Love With Since Forever), Ino grabs Sasuke by the arm and yanks him out the door. Naruto follows, grinning from ear to ear.

Sasuke makes all kinds of offended noises as she leads him down the street and through the outdoor market. But Ino can be as strong as Sakura when she wants to, not through chakra manipulation, but through sheer willpower. Shikamaru will testify.

As they make their way through the market, Ino spots two familiar brunette buns at the ice cream stand. She sucks in a large breath and bellows, "TENTEEEEEEEEENNNNNNNN."

Everyone around her ducks and covers their ears. Team Gai's kunoichi is used to Ino's volume though, and smiles and waves back.

"TENTEN, GET YOUR SEXY BUTT OVER HERE RIGHT NOW. WE HAVE A MISSION."

The remainder of Tenten's ice cream disappears over her shoulder as she teleports to Ino's side.

"Reporting in. What's the mission?" Ino loves Tenten. Before, they had never been very close because Tenten was a year older and they'd never had much in common. Tenten was into weapons, Ino and Sakura had been into boys (or rather, Sasuke). But things happened, wars happened, and they grew up. They had the chance to fight together for the first time. And when Neji died, Ino, Sakura, and Hinata decided that Tenten needed their support, and she is infinitely grateful for it. Now, the four of them are inseparable, and Tenten is always down for anything.

"Sasuke's buying Sakura a birthday present. We're going to help him." Tenten salutes and grins wickedly at Sasuke. Ino yanks on his arm, and their party continues toward their destination.

"ONWARD HO."

* * *

They are traveling through Konoha's wealthier district now, the shops much fancier than what they'd passed by in the market. As they pass by one of the upscale restaurants, they spy Hinata emerging with her father and sister.

"HINATA!"

"HINATA-CHAN!"

And before Hyuuga Hiashi knows what's happening, his oldest daughter is being kidnapped by her hooligan friends. She's being carted off to who-knows-where to engage in heathen activies of the most unsavory variety-

Hanabi sighs and tugs her father's sleeve, leading him home as he shoots glares over his shoulder toward his daughter's friends.

* * *

A bell delicately tinkles as the group enters the posh jewelry store. The proprietor looks at them with distaste, until he recognizes Sasuke and Hinata.

"Uchiha-sama, Hyuuga-sama, what can I get for you today? We've just received a new stock of diamonds, lovely six carat gems. Or perhaps you prefer rubies, Uchiha-sama? Maybe opals for the lady?"

Ino's eyes are as wide as saucers, and she rushes over to one of the display cases, dragging Tenten with her. They engage in a heated debate over which ones suit Sakura the most. Naruto stares around the store in wonder, as though he's never seen so many shiny objects in the same place at once. Hinata declines the offer of assistance, and wanders over to where the cameo necklaces are housed, admiring the beauty of the shell-carvings. Naruto, feeling a bit lost, joins her.

Sasuke approaches the salesman. "I'm looking for something in particular."

The man beams with the knowledge of an impending sale. "Ah, is it for a special lady?"

Sasuke nods hesitantly. "She's very...ah...unique." The merchant nods sagely and brings out a notepad. "Describe her to me."

So Sasuke tells him about Sakura, with her hair the color of her namesake and eyes sharper than emeralds. He doesn't use poetic words, of course, his words are clipped and short, but he has help from her friends, who are eager to advertise all of Sakura's virtues (and a few of her flaws).

Afterwards, he tells the shopkeeper what he wants, and the man beams.

"Perfect, absolutely perfect. I have just the thing." He scurries into the back room and returns with a velvet-lined box. He opens it, and Sasuke immediately knows that this was meant for Sakura.

"Hn. I'll take it."

* * *

Friday night arrives and Ino's party for Sakura is a smash. There is plenty of alcohol, and somebody even jumps out of the cake. To most people's horror, it's Kiba. Sakura just laughs and claps as he starts into a ridiculous dance, wearing nothing but boxer-briefs.

Sasuke draws the line when Kiba tries to give her a lapdance, and not-so-discreetly drags him away.

It's after eleven, and he still hasn't given Sakura her gift. He doesn't want to do it in front of everybody, even if half of them know what it is by now (thanks to two certain blondes with mouths that run faster than Lee).

Truth be told, he is nervous. He doesn't know how Sakura will react to such a gift, given their past and their lack of involvement since his return. She seemed happy enough to see him when he arrived, her smile full of warmth and fondness. But Sakura loves everybody, she rarely has it in her to hate.

So Sasuke waits until the party clears out, and offers to walk her home. She looks at him in surprise, clearly not expecting him to ever make such an offer. He shrugs it off with a "hn" and holds the door open for her.

The spring air is warm with a touch of breeze, and as it lifts Sakura's hair, Sasuke can smell her delicate floral perfume. After about ten minutes of walking in companionable silence, they reach her apartment. Sakura fiddles with her keys as Sasuke stands there awkwardly, unsure.

"Aa, thank you for walking me home, Sasuke-kun." She smiles up at him, and Sasuke feels warmth bloom in his chest. He reaches toward his back pocket and pulls out the box.

"Hn. Happy Birthday."

Those greengreen eyes widen as he holds the box out to her, and she takes it hesitantly, as though she's not sure it's really meant for her. Before she can open it, Sasuke speaks.

"I know we haven't...spent much time together since I came back. I'd like to change that."

She's staring at him open-mouthed now, wondering if this is really Sasuke. Then she looks back down at the black velvet box and slowly opens the lid.

Nestled inside is a pendant, a sakura blossom whose petals are made up of pink marquise diamonds, with a small emerald at the flower's center. Instead of a chain, a black silk ribbon slides through a loop at the top of the pendant.

Sasuke watches her face intently as she examines it reverently, her breath coming in small gasps as she tries not to hyperventilate. She doesn't move for a few moments, so Sasuke carefully picks up the necklace and moves behind her, sliding the choker around her neck and tying the ribbon with a sturdy knot. His fingers linger on her shoulders.

Sakura looks down and delicately touches the pendant, admiring it. Then she whirls around and throws herself into his arms, holding him in a bone-breaking embrace.

"Sasuke-kun, it's so-so-so beautiful. You shouldn't have." Her voice is muffled against his chest.

When they were younger, Sasuke would have minded the contact, but now he lifts his arms around her and they settle comfortably around her waist. He sets his chin on top of her hair, and her head fits perfectly into the crook of his neck. He can't see her face, but Sakura is as red as his favorite tomatoes.

After a few moments, they separate, and Sakura stands on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. It's Sasuke's turn to blush.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun." Her eyes are watery, but her smile is brilliant.

He nods and turns to go. Then he turns back, "See you tomorrow?"

Her smile grows even larger and she nods happily, humming.

Then he turns to leave for real this time and hears the turning of her key in the door.

"Um...why does it look like a rose bush exploded in my apartment?"

Sasuke doesn't answer that, but turns very, very red.

Damn Ino.

* * *

**Author's Note:** I'm late. Again. These late nights are snowballing to the point where I'm too tired to even move at night. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Also, I have a brilliant idea for a new SasuSaku fanfic. I've posted a general idea summary on my tumblr if anyone's interested (my tumblr is ebondeath). Also, I'm thinking I'm just going to go ahead and post the Halloween prompt ahead of the other ones I still have to do, just so I can actually have it out on Halloween.

To all of my readers, reviewers (especially), favoriteds, and followers, I love you, you are my life.


	20. Holiday Horror

**Date:** October 31st, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku, familyfic!  
**Prompt:** Halloween  
**Title:** Holiday Horror  
**Summary:** Sakura and Naruto are both experts at shock value.  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note:** Anyone who's been paying attention to the prompt calendar will notice that I'm behind and skipped over a few in order to write this one. I am absolutely going back and doing those ones too. I just wanted this one out for the holiday. :

* * *

"Sasuke-kun, I need your butt-bow."

"It's NOT- wait, why do you need it?"

"To finish up one of the girls' Halloween costumes. The purple material is perfect."

"No."

"Sasuke-kun, you haven't even worn the thing in sixteen years."

"Not the point."

"It _never_ looked good on you."

"I don't care."

"Stop being ridiculous."

"Can't you get something else?"

"The fabric shop was out of purple material. Ino-pig probably bought up all the purple in Fire Country."

"How is that my problem?"

_"Sasuke-kun."_

Sasuke knows when he's lost.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke, survivor of the infamous Uchiha massacre, wielder of the Sharingan and Rinnegan, master of chidori and raikiri, slayer of Orochimaru, veteran of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, and captain of the Konoha Military Police Force is sulking on his living room couch.

His arms are crossed tight across his chest, and he is most distinctly _pouting._

Across the room, his wife of twelve years, Sakura, is untwisting and ironing a length of purple fabric. Every few seconds he shoots her a dirty look which she pointedly ignores.

After she finishes ironing the cloth, she pulls out _scissors_. At that, Sasuke jumps to his feet, an angry cease and desist order on the tip of his tongue. But the eyebrow she raises at him is fully loaded, and he bites his tongue and resumes his angry sulking on the sofa.

After a few minutes of tense silence, the traitor finally speaks:

"Have you tried on your costume, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke splutters. "Costume?"

The last time Sasuke remembers participating in Halloween is when he was seven years old and dressed as a giant onigiri. Itachi had taken him trick-or-treating through the village and he had been so proud when Itachi had introduced him as his otouto (little brother), even if he did look a bit ridiculous.

Sasuke shakes himself out of his memories. He's a grown man now, with no interest in child's play.

"Hn. I'm not going."

As soon as he says this, he knows it's a mistake. Not because Sakura is glaring at him, but because he hears three sets of sniffles behind him. He slowly turns around and sees the one thing that is more effective than Sakura's anger:

The disappointed faces of his daughters.

* * *

Half an hour later, Sasuke is shrugging into his tuxedo costume and sighing. He looks ridiculous, but it's not nearly as humiliating as the time the girls made him wear Sakura's clothes...

He shudders at the memory.

"Here, 'tou-san." His son Akira hands him a thin white mask, meant to fit over his eyes, followed by a top hat. His costume complete, Sasuke turns to look at himself in the mirror.

At least he can't possibly have a worse costume than whatever Naruto will be wearing. Sigh.

It was unanimously decided (though unanimous apparently doesn't include Sasuke) that the Uchiha family would be doing themed costumes this year. Usually the triplets dressed as pumpkins or black cats and Akira went out as a vampire or a miniature Hokage, but this year they're doing group costumes and Sasuke has been roped into it. Something about connecting with his children, whatever that means.

Sasuke eyes his son, whose costume is possibly even crazier than his own. Akira is dressed in loose, flowing white pants and a shirt, his feet are bare, and there is a unicorn horn attached to his forehead.

Sasuke decides he doesn't want to know.

* * *

It's nearly evening and Sakura has finished sewing the girls' costumes. They have retreated to the master bedroom to change, and Sasuke waits in the living room while Akira gathers the candy buckets.

Sasuke hopes against hope that, despite the ridiculously obvious public nature of trick-or-treating, nobody will see him. He supposes he could pass for some kind of clothing model, but still.

He hears his bedroom door slide open down the hall and the stampede of Suzuki, Suzuno, and Shizuka as they rush toward the living room to show off their costumes. They're no longer chubby little toddlers, but they're still just as precocious and hyper at seven. They crash into each other as they enter the room and end up sprawled in a pile on the floor, a tangle of gangly growing limbs.

Sasuke arches an eyebrow. Despite their congealed mass on the loor, he picks out white leotards and brightly colored knee-length skirts and bows. The girls pick themselves up off the floor and flash their father wide, and in some cases gap-toothed grins.

Suzuki is wearing a green sailor collar and skirt with pink bows at her chest and back, along with green shinobi sandals. Suzuno's skirt and collar are blue, with lighter aqua-colord bows. She also wears a clear blue plastic visor across her eyes.

When Sasuke inspects Shizuka, he discovers what remains of his purple butt-bow (it is NOT a butt-bow, he reminds himself). Her skirt and collar are red, and the purple bows are clearly the remnants of his beloved belt. Sasuke mourns in silence.

The girls make various fighting poses, claiming they are going to punish him in the name of the moon. Sasuke has no idea why the moon would be responsible for hiring kunoichi in impractical colorful outfits, but Sasuke's already decided that the less he knows about the theme of these costumes, the better.

* * *

The click of Sakura's heels can be heard coming down the hallway, and Sasuke looks up just in time for his jaw to drop.

Sakura is wearing nearly the same costume as her daughters, but it's definitely a more..._mature_ variation. Sakura's skirt and color are a blue similar to Suzuno's, but her bows are red and a large pink, heart-shaped brooch sits at the center of the chest bow. She has elongated, fingerless white gloves with red trim hugging her arms, and her boots look very similar to the heeled ones she used to wear in her teens, only red.

But the biggest difference is the overall tightness of the leotard and _that skirt_. The triplets' skirts come down to their knees, but Sakura's skirt ends mid-thigh. Sasuke can't stop staring.

Her rosette hair is pulled up in two buns on top of her head, very similar to Tenten's, and small spare ringlets hang down from beneath them. A crescent moon is painted on her forehead.

Sakura smiles at her enthusiastic offspring. "Are we ready to go?"

There is a chorus of 'yes' from the girls and a nod from Akira.

"No," Sasuke blurts out. His wife narrows her eyes. "Sasuke-kun, we've discussed this."

He shakes his head and moves closer to her, letting his eyes rake over her. When his eyes reach hers, he gives her a _look_. Sakura bursts into a fit of giggles.

"Later, handsome, I promise." She winks at him while pulling him out the door.

* * *

"Remind me why I'm carrying roses again?"

"Because it's a thing that your character does, Sasuke-kun, just go with it. Throw them at people in scary costumes, the girls will love it."

Sasuke grumbles under his breath and vows not to throw a single rose. He has his pride, dammit.

Also, he's far too busy walking directly behind Sakura to make sure that nobody but him stares at her behind in that ridiculously short skirt.

"Whose house is next, okaa-san?" The girls bounce up and down in excitement. Akira is busy inspecting the contents of his candy bucket.

Sakura glances around them and her eyes all on a nearby apartment building. "Time to go see Kakashi-sensei!"

The girls cheer and race each other up the three flights of stairs to Kakashi's apartment. Even for a graceful ninja, Sasuke has to take the stairs slow. He keeps tripping over his long cape.

Once at the top, the girls nearly pound the door in with their knocking. The door slowly creaks open and a tall figure covered in a white bedsheet appears in the doorframe. There is a single cut-out for Kakashi's uncovered eye.

"TRICK-OR-TREAT!"

Kakashi's eyes crinkle in a smile as he fills the kids' buckets with candy. He eyes Sakura in her short skirt and Sasuke in his tuxedo, and pulls something out from behind his back. He hands a book to Sakura.

"This one's for the adults." He winks at them.

Sasuke looks down at the red cover. It's an Icha Icha novel with a large XXX printed across the front. He glares at his ex-sensei and former Hokage. Kakashi shrugs and shuts the door. Sakura giggles.

"Okay, I think the last house is Naruto's."

* * *

"TRICK OR TREAT!"

Uzumaki Hinata answers the door dressed as a geisha. She smiles fondly at the kids and fills their buckets with treats.

"Hinata, you look beautiful!" Sakura declares. Hinata blushes and thanks her, asking about her costume. Sasuke hears her answer something about sailing on the moon, looking inside for the dobe.

Hinata, seeing Sasuke looking around, tells him he's in the kitchen mixing candy into his ramen. She calls his name, and a minute later the Nanadaime comes bounding to the door.

Every mouth drops open.

Naruto has sexy-no-jutsu'd himself into Naruko, and is wearing the exact same costume as Sakura, complete with blonde hair pulled into odango with pigtails and super short sailor skirt.

He glances up and down at Sakura.

"Well, this is awkward."

* * *

Later that night, after the kids have eaten their fill of candy and passed out for the night, Sasuke and Sakura are enjoying some _alone_ time in their bedroom. They've been kissing and making out heatedly, and Sakura breaks away and crawls backwards onto the bed with a coquettish smile on her face.

Sasuke freezes with a pained expression. Sakura immediately frowns upon seeing it. "What's wrong? Don't you want me?" Her quivering lips betray her hurt feelings.

He shakes his head. "I can't." And his eyes are wide with alarm. "I wanted to with you in that outfit so bad, but I can't." Sasuke clutches at his hair, trying to shake the images his brain has conjured up.

Now Sakura looks alarmed. "What is it?" She's up off the bed in an instant, standing next to him and examining his head.

He looks up at her in despair.

"I look at you in that outfit and all I can see is the dobe. MY BRAIN IS RUINED. SCARRED FOR LIFE."

Sakura ponders for a moment, then smiles impishly at him.

"Well then, why don't you take it off of me? I'll make you forget all about Naruto."

She pulls him back toward the bed and they fall into it.

* * *

_They burn her sailor costume the next day._

* * *

**Author's Note:** I may go ahead and do the All Saint's Day prompt next, since that one, like Halloween, is date specific. Then I'll go back and do the ones I skipped over. I feel kind of like I lost a bit of my humorous edge in this one, but it has its moments. Hope you enjoy it.


	21. Sound in the Silence

**Date:** November 1st, 2014  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku (don't panic, it's towards the end)  
**Prompt: **All Saints' Day / Day of the Dead  
**Title: **Sound in the Silence  
**Summary: **He hears her hearbeat in the absence of his.  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Warning:** MANY FEELS OF THE SAD VARIETY.  
**Author's Note:** Since November 1st is a day that revolves around honoring the dead, naturally I wanted to focus this prompt on Sasuke and Itachi. This one is more serious and lacking in comedy than the other ones I've written, but I hope that doesn't deter you from enjoying it.  
**Recommended Listening:** The Future is Now by Starset

* * *

It's a Tuesday morning two months after the war when the ANBU messenger finds a stitched-back-together Team Seven.

They are stretched out on the utterly destroyed grounds of Training Ground Three, the place that has always been _theirs_. The Uzumaki kid is shouting something at the dark-haired Uchiha, while the bell-like laughter of Tsunade's apprentice rings out beside them.

The masked shinobi clears his throat and instantly three pairs of eyes are locked on him in suspicion.

"Hokage-sama requests the presence of Uchiha Sasuke in her office."

As the three of them rise, the ANBU holds up a hand. "She wishes to see him _alone_."

The three members of Team Seven glance amongst themselves. Sakura bites her lip in anxiety and Naruto looks agitated. Sasuke merely shrugs apathetically. It's probably something about his probation, he tells him.

The ANBU takes his leave as he hears them start to argue.

* * *

"Uchiha Sasuke. Come in, boy."

Sasuke grunts in response as he stands in front of the Hokage's desk. Tsunade stares at him for a long moment, and he notes that for once she doesn't look irritated at him. Instead, she looks older and more tired. But he can only take so much silent scrutiny before he becomes impatient.

"Is this about my-"

"The body of Uchiha Itachi has been found."

If the silence had been tense before, it is deafening now.

"They're bringing him home to be laid to rest."

Sasuke feels his body go cold, all of the feeling draining out of him. His insides are numb; he doesn't know what to think, what to feel. He can hear Itachi's final words echoing inside his head, his final smile embedded in his memory.

True, he's already turned these things over and over in his mind since the days when his brother had died. And no matter how sure he is that he's found an answer for how he should feel or what his next action should be, the reminder always leaves a jagged, empty hole inside of him that nothing can fill.

Tsunade regards him with compassion, but he doesn't see it. He doesn't see anything. The world is as foreign to him as a genjutsu while he is lost in his grief that he has never given himself time to embrace. Before, there was always a new plan to be made, a new course of action to be taken to write all the wrongs that his brother's death couldn't fix.

Now, there is nothing but the loss.

* * *

Later that day, Tsunade informs Naruto and Sakura in a separate meeting.

At Naruto's insistence, Sakura learns the truth of the Uchiha clan massacre. She doesn't speak for a long time. Her hands, clenched into fists, are shaking. The tears flow freely from her eyes, for both Itachi and Sasuke and what they had to lose. Her teeth are clenched trying to contain her anger and her grief, because hers is small compared to Sasuke's.

When she finally lifts her head, Tsunade marvels at the fire burning in her apprentice's eyes. And while she knows that Sakura will not do anything rash or stupid, she also believes that the council should be afraid. While the council will not be taken down by physical means, Team Seven has not yet met an enemy they could not defeat, and not for a second does Tsunade think that they will let these sleeping dogs lie.

As they make ready to leave her office, Tsunade calls Sakura back.

"You may want to consider helping with the funeral arrangements. I doubt that Sasuke's going to have any kind of interest in those details."

Sakura nods, and the door clicks behind her.

* * *

It's been three days, and Sasuke has not emerged from the Uchiha manor, nor spoken to anyone. Alone, he sits in Itachi's room, unthinking and trying desperately to be unfeeling. He struggles for the control that he's had over his emotions for the last ten years, and finds he can barely manage.

If he doesn't think about Itachi, doesn't think about his smile or his last words, or the way he taught Sasuke how to throw shuriken and how to read, doesn't remember the way Itachi was there for him the way his father never was, then _maybejustmaybe_ he can function.

So he sits in the dark not thinking and trying not to feel.

He knows his teammates have been trying to reach him, but Itachi has always taken precedence over everything else in his life, and so he shuts them out again. That's the only thing he's ever known how to do.

* * *

"SASUKE-TEME, OPEN UP! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!"

"Naruto, stop. He's not going to come out with you yelling at him like that."

"That's what you said last time, but I got him to come home, didn't I?"

Undeterred, Naruto keeps pounding away on Sasuke's front door. Sakura sighs in exasperation and bodily drags him away, though the blonde keeps yelling.

She's already arranged everything for Itachi's funeral, though she doesn't believe it's nearly close enough to what he deserves. She knows Sasuke-kun will want something small and private, with only their team in attendance. Itachi deserves a hero's return to Konoha, with his body in state, but with the council still in power and the truth still hidden, that cannot be an option.

So Sakura has ordered a plot dug in the Uchiha family cemetary, next to Fugaku and Mikoto. Flowers have been ordered from the Yamanakas, and Ino has been sworn to absolute secrecy. A headstone has been ordered from the monument-maker, and Sakura can only hope that it is befitting the man who had given his whole life to his village and to his brother.

* * *

The day Itachi's body arrives in Konoha is overcast and cold. It's a windy November day, and rain is threatening to fall. The body is brought straight to the hospital morgue, where Tsunade insists on doing the identification and burial preparation herself. He is remarkably well-preserved, given that he has been dead for some time. Some kind of jutsu has been used to prevent decomposition, though nobody knows who did such a thing.

Later that afternoon, four ANBU carry the casket into the small graveyard at the northeast corner of the Uchiha compound. Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura stand scattered around the grave, each dressed in black.

Sasuke stands alone off to the side, reading the names on his parents' headstones as he has done a thousand times before. He can't bring himself to look at Itachi's; it will make it all real. But he forces himself to watch as they lower Itachi into the cold, wet earth as it starts to rain.

He can't bear to think of Itachi and the rest of his family cold in the ground, with no warmth or love, no one to talk to and no sight of the sky overhead. How can he leave them out here alone to fade into nothingness? He doesn't have answers, and the guilt of being alive chokes him.

Normally during funerary proceedings, someone would speak in praise of the dead or deliver a eulogy. Given the enormity of Itachi's sacrifice, Sasuke's suffering, and what is still left to be done, they allow the words to hang in the air without saying them.

Sasuke is grateful. He would have killed anyone who tried to pretend to understand his brother.

* * *

After the funeral, Kakashi disappears, stating he is late for a meeting. Naruto is summoned for an urgent mission, and Sasuke retreats into the Uchiha manor, slamming the door behind him. He has not said a word to any of them.

Sakura is left standing alone next to Itachi's grave. The rain is coming down in a steady drizzle as she kneels next to the headstone, running her fingers over the freshly engraved kanji. Silently, she thanks him for loving Sasuke and sparing his life, for his sacrifice for the village, and for the burden that he had to bear for so long.

After saying her piece, Sakura makes her way to the rear of Sasuke's house. She knows he wants to be alone right now and that he must be in pain. And even though she didn't know Itachi, she's willing to bet that he wouldn't want his brother to be left alone.

So she lets herself in and removes her shoes, and silently navigates her way through the dark house. Sensing Sasuke's dulled chakra coming from a room at the end of the hallway, Sakura moves as quietly as possible, not wanting to disturb him until she can get a sense of his emotional state.

* * *

The door of Itachi's room has been left open, Sasuke's seated and hunched over form barely visible in the dark. Sakura's heart clenches at the sight. Tentatively, she steps forward into the room.

"Sasuke-kun?" she whispers.

The only answer is the sound of the rain as it hits the roof. She takes another step closer.

"Go away," he growls, though it lacks his usual rancor.

Sakura shakes her head, even though he can't see it. "I can't do that, Sasuke-kun. I'm not leaving you alone." She moves so that she is kneeling in front of him, and takes his face in her hands.

For once, he doesn't object.

Sasuke raises his head and looks at her, his onyx eyes empty and unfocused. He allows Sakura to embrace him, his head resting against her shoulder. They stay like that for a long time, her kneeling between his bent knees and just holding him.

Eventually, his arms come up to encircle her, loose and unsure at first. When she doesn't pull away, his arms tighten around her and his breathing becomes ragged. Sakura starts to cry again as she realizes that he's sobbing without tears. His broad shoulders shake as the barrier holding back his grief cracks and crumbles.

They grieve together.

* * *

What feels like hours later, the house is completely dark and no light shines in from the windows.

Sakura's joints ache from kneeling for so long, but she doesn't complain. Sasuke has finally cried himself out, and now his tear-stained face rests in the crook of her neck. She bits her lip at the sadness and sweetness of it.

Very slowly, as her legs have fallen asleep, Sakura rises, supporting Sasuke's unconscious weight with her strength. She carries him over her shoulder down the hall until she finds what she thinks is his bedroom. Inside, she lays him down on the bed and brushes his bangs from his face. Her expression is tender and somber as she gazes down at him.

Eventually, she turns to go, but as she does a hand reaches out and grasps her wrist. Sakura turns back in surprise. Sasuke isn't looking at her, but his request is clear enough.

"Dun' go," he mumbles.

So she stays.

* * *

The next morning, Sakura aches all over. There's a deep, sweet ache in her bones, and a painful ache between her thighs. The air is cold, but the bed is warm. Sakura frowns as she realizes that the bed she's in isn't her own. As she opens her eyes, she remembers what happened.

Grief was the catalyst, and she knows that he just wanted to feel _something_ that isn't the cold touch of death in his life, but that doesn't stop her heart from swelling.

Sakura gazes at Sasuke's sleeping form next to her, facing away from her. Both of them are naked, she realizes a bit belatedly, and she blushes. The sheet has been tugged down so that it rests at his hips, leaving his back, chest, and arms bare. He's shivering, and though her first instinct is to feel nervous, Sakura pulls the sheet back over both of them and moves her body flush against his to give him her warmth. She wraps her arms around him and tries not to think about their bare skin touching.

She feels him wake a minute later, his body stiff as well. He turns his neck to face her, but otherwise makes no move to untangle himself from her. Sakura holds her breath as his gaze holds hers, his eyes decidedly less empty than they had been the night before.

"Good morning," she breathes.

Sasuke glances down at her kiss-swollen lips. "Hn."

He then rolls the rest of his body over so he is completely facing her, with her arms still wrapped around his torso. His face once again finds the hollow between her neck and shoulder, and within minutes he is asleep once again.

Sakura can hardly believe that this is Sasuke, acting like waking up in her arms is completely normal. But she supposes that grief does things to people, and maybe when he wakes up later he will push her away. Even if he does, she will never stop trying.

But for now, there is this moment, and as Sakura falls back into sleep, she wonders if this is another gift from Itachi.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Right, so, I would really not like to receive flames about how sex trivializes grief, because it doesn't. It can be a part of the healing process, or used to feel something other than sadness. So if you try to write angry words at me about how I don't make any sense, I will shank you with a microwave.

For you normal non-flamemongers, I hope you enjoyed this more serious piece. It was easier to write than expected. And after this, we will return to the regular prompt schedule. Love you all!


	22. The Daughter Dating Disaster

****IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE SPOILERS FOR OR READ THE NARUTO MANGA CHAPTERS 699/700 AND DO NOT WISH TO BE SPOILED, TURN BACK NOW OR PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. THE REMAINING PROMPT FICS I POST WILL DEAL WITH THE CANON AS ESTABLISHED BY KISHIMOTO'S MANGA, SO PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND IF YOU CHOOSE TO KEEP READING.****

* * *

**Date: **I'm just not even going to bother with dates anymore.  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku, NaruHina, SARABORU (YEAH THAT'S RIGHT)  
**Prompt:** Trust  
**Title:** The Daughter Dating Disaster  
**Summary:** Sasuke is not a shipper, especially when it comes to his daughter.  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note: **As of now, I will be writing with the established canon SasuSaku NaruHina EverybodyElse children. As much as I love my own headcanon children, THIS IS THE DAY WE HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR. SASUSAKU IS CANON. SALAD-CHAN IS CANON. ALL HAIL KISHIMOTO.  
**Dedication:** For midoriland, for inspiring me to write. :3

* * *

**-x-**

"But 'tou-san-"

"I said no."

"But-"

"NO. And that's final."

Big crocodile tears well up behind red-framed glasses, and Sarada flees from the room. Sasuke sighs. What he's doing is for her own good, and she'll thank him for it someday. Even if right now-

"I HATE YOU." A door slams down the hall.

An uncomfortable sensation coils in Sasuke's gut. He doesn't want his daughter to be angry with him, but as a father (who mostly has no idea what he's doing) he can't afford to back down. His only daughter is the most important thing in his life, and he's only thinking of her welfare.

The Uchiha patriarch sighs heavily again and eases himself into a chair. He rubs the stump of his arm, feeling the ghost of a limb long gone. Why does being a parent have to be so _difficult_? Maybe he understands Fugaku a little better now, who had _two_ children to deal with. Sasuke sighs and closes his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.

He needs to think of how he's going to sort this mess out, how he's going to tell-

"SASUKE."

Petite, terrifying Uchiha Sakura barges into the room, a storm of protective motherly rage. She stops in front of him, her hands balled into fists against her hips and her sea-green eyes flashing in anger.

Sasuke resolves to stick to his guns.

"Are you out of your _mind_?!" she hisses at him.

Narrowed onyx eyes clash with jade.

"I will not have our daughter dating _that boy_."

"_That boy_ is your best friend's _son_!"

"Exactly."

"You are going to go in there _right now_ and apologize to her-"

"I am not!" Sasuke is indignant.

"-or so help me, Sasuke-"

At that moment, a knock on the front door echoes down the hallway.

* * *

"Eh...good evening, Sasuke-sama, Sakura-sama."

A very nervous Uzumaki Boruto stands at the front door of the Uchiha household, scratching the back of his head in a familiar gesture. Sakura beams down at him and practically drags the poor boy into the house. Sasuke glares potent death beams at him.

"Let me go get Sarada-chan, she should be ready by now." Sakura shoots a warning glance at her husband as she turns toward the hallway.

The tension in the room as palpable as Sasuke and Boruto are left alone. Naruto's son swallows audibly as he notices Sasuke not-so-subtly fingering the hilt of his Kusanagi.

"Where are you going?"

"E-excuse me?" Boruto practically squeaks.

Sasuke's voice is low and menacing, "Where are you taking my daughter?"

Boruto shuffles anxiously, "We're just going out for some ramen."

Sasuke snorts but doesn't say anything. A tense, awkward silence falls over the room. They stand there for a few moments, Sasuke unrelenting in his intimidating stare and Boruto clenching and unclenching his fists.

Finally, the young Uzumaki lifts his gaze from the floor and meets Sasuke's eyes with determination.

"Sir," he begins with a firm voice, "I really like Sarada-chan. And you may not like me, but I'm gonna prove to you that I'm good enough for her, no matter what it takes! I won't back down!"

Sasuke's expression doesn't change, but he regards the boy with amusement. He looks and sounds so much like Naruto that it's almost impossible not to believe him.

But Sasuke is a father, and in his mind _nobody_ is good enough for his daughter.

"You will have her home by nine o'clock."

"Eh?" Boruto gazes at him in shock before a large grin splits open his face. "I mean, yes, sir!"

* * *

"Boru-kun!"

Sarada comes bounding down the hall, looking absolutely adorable in a red, knee-length summer dress with the Uchiha uchiwa crest emblazoned all around the hem of the skirt. She throws her arms around his neck in an enthusiastic hug, and Boruto nervously glances at an impassive Sasuke as he returns it.

"H-hey Salad-chan!"

Sarada lightly punches his shoulder as her face turns a dusky rose color.

"I told you not to call me that," she mumbles.

Sasuke's eye develops a tic. His daughter is not _salad_. Sakura smirks at him from behind the kids, as if to say _you named her_. She puts her hands on the teens' shoulders and pushes them towards the door.

"You kids have fun! And make sure you stay within the village."

Boruto salutes at Sakura. "Yes ma'am!"

Sasuke grunts and shoots another warning glance at Naruto's kid before turning way. "9 o'clock." The kid nods.

They leave, and Sakura folds her arms across her chest as she glares at him.

"What?" he bites out at her.

"He's a good boy, Sasuke-kun, you know that. You've known him since he was born, and Hinata would not have raised a bad egg."

Sasuke rolls his eyes. "Did you forget who his father is?"

"Sasuke-kun," she growls.

He shrugs and wanders off toward the kitchen. Sakura throws her hands in the hair and stalks into their bedroom. Sasuke smirks to himself.

He's going to follow them.

* * *

Sasuke hasn't spent years training and doing A and S rank missions for nothing. He's a master of stealth and tracking, and the two lovestruck teens he's following don't have any clue that he's there. It's like tracking drunk kittens.

They're not really doing anything, just walking down the street talking and laughing. But then their hands touch, fingers slowly intertwining, and Sasuke's sharingan activates. There's a blush spread across both of their cheeks, and Sarada pauses to lean up on her tiptoes and kiss his cheek.

Sasuke sees red. Literally.

After a poignant moment (sickening, in Sasuke's opinion), they continue down the street toward their destination: Ichiraku Ramen Stand.

Sasuke scoffs to himself. Only a spawn of Naruto would think that _Ichiraku_ was an acceptable place to take a girl on a date, much less a girl who happened to be the heir to the prestigious Uchiha clan.

He watches furtively as they claim two stools at the bar and order. They're sitting _way_ too close for his comfort, with their knees touching and their faces leaned in toward each other.

It gets even worse when their food arrives.

They're _feeding each other_. Sarada holds up her chopsticks and giggles as Boruto opens his mouth wide. The tree branch Sasuke is holding on to splinters beneath his tight grip. He's had enough of this. Clearly Sarada is not ready to date if she's going to engage in this type of tomfoolery. He prepares to leap from the tree and put an end to this nonsense, when Sarada stands up and disappears from his view. Puzzled, Sasuke leans out father to try to get a better view. And then he hears something that chills his blood.

"_I know you're there, otou-san. I have the sharingan too, ya know_."

* * *

"UCHIHA SASUKE, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING? _SPYING_ ON YOUR OWN DAUGHTER? YOU HAVE A LOT OF NERVE-"

Sasuke tunes out the rest of Sakura's rant. He's humiliated enough without having her berate him. Caught spying in a tree by a teenager is beyond mortifiying, but at the same time he's proud of his daughter for picking up on his presence.

It's a ridiculous dilemma.

The four of them are standing on the Uchihas' front porch, the two women in his life glaring at him and Boruto trying very hard not to snicker. Sasuke locks eyes with his wife defiantly. He's not going to apologize for trying to protect Sarada. Her lips twitch in an almost-smile that their daughter doesn't see, and Sasuke suddenly understands.

Her anger and her ranting is a front that she's putting up for Sarada's sake. She's actually pleased with his reconaissance and amused that he got caught. Sakura is just as protective as he is, but a lot more subtle. He smirks at her.

Sarada is still steaming. "Otou-san, you should be ashamed of yourself. We've done nothing wrong!" Her glasses slip down her face. Irritated, she pushes them back up with her middle finger.

"Hn." Sasuke stuffs his remaining hand into his pocket and casually leans back against a support beam.

"It's okay, Sarada-chan. I understand. He's just being a good father." Boruto shrugs and smiles. But Sarada doesn't buy it. "If he were a good father, he'd _trust _me."

Sasuke is offended at that. "I do trust you. It's _him_-" he nods at the blonde boy "that I don't trust."

Sarada huffs and crosses her arms tightly across her chest, looking away.

Boruto faces Sasuke and Sakura and bows to them. "Thank you for the honor of allowing me to take your daughter out. I hope you'll allow me a second chance. Sarada-chan, I had a lot of fun tonight, even if your dad did stalk us."

He lightly kisses her cheek before walking down the steps to the gate.

Sasuke regards him before glancing over at Sakura, who's smiling contentedly.

In that split second when he averts his gaze, Boruto moves like a bolt of lightning and flash-steps in front of Sarada, kissing her full on the mouth before taking off running at full speed.

Sasuke's eyes bleed rage-red.

"COME BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE BASTARD, I'LL KILL YOU."

* * *

**Author's Note:** SASUSAKU IS CANON. ASDLKFHG. I am dead. Follow me on tumblr for more SasuSaku goodness ebondeath.


	23. Pre-Natal Panic

**Date:** Every day is Canon Day.  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku, light implied ShikaTema  
**Prompt:** Parents  
**Title: **Pre-Natal Panic  
**Summary: **Nine months to gestate, one moment to fall in love.  
**Dedication:** For xRaianx, who has been patiently waiting for this one.  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Mood Music:** All I've Ever Needed by Paul McDonald &amp; Nikki Reed  
**Author's Note:** I just love and adore Salad-chan, but Uchi-babes need more kids. And these two are even more fun to write now that they're canon.

* * *

"Come back safe," she whispers.

Sasuke doesn't respond with words, he's never been good with those, so he pulls her into a bruising kiss. Sakura's lips are still swollen and tender from their intense round of lovemaking last night, and she wishes they had time for more.

But duty is a shinobi's mistress, and Sasuke is leaving for an A rank mission with Shino and Shikamaru. If they're lucky, they'll only be gone a month. Sakura doesn't count on luck though; missions rarely go according to schedule.

She steals one more kiss before he pulls away, his gaze lingering on her face. Then with a blink, he is gone, and Sakura is left to shiver in the early autumn morning without his warmth.

With a last glance backward, Sakura sighs and retreats into their house, locking the door behind her. The house is large and empty without him, but she has a shift at the hospital in an hour to keep her mind off of it. As she trudges up the stairs, Sakura notes how tired she's been feeling for the past few days. Sasuke's attention has been rather...ardent lately, not that she minds.

She loves how Sasuke expresses himself physically. He doesn't speak much, but he's always been like that. But when he uses his _hands_ and his _mouth_, his meaning is unmistakable. Sakura flushes just thinking about it. She mentally scolds herself, forcing her thoughts toward her upcoming shift.

But she can't help the small smile that sticks to her lips.

* * *

It's two-thirty in the morning when Sakura finally returns home from her shift. One would think that because they are living in a time of peace, things at the hospital would have slowed down. However, the chuunin exams are rapidly approaching, the first since the war, and the genin have been going all out with their training to be ready. Such training has resulted in many injuries, including one genin who somehow ended up with an exploding tag attached to his backside. That poor child won't be sitting for a while.

Despite her exhaustion, Sakura is starving. Her foray into the fridge is not very successful. Inside, she finds an orange, three tomatoes, some celery, and leftover onigiri. Upon further inspection, she finds a bottle of chocolate syrup in the very back corner.

Without really thinking about it, she pulls out the onigiri and the chocolate syrup. She empties half of the bottle of chocolate syrup over the onigiri and munches on it mindlessly as she heads upstairs to the bedroom. When it's gone, she licks the remaining chocolate off of her fingers.

After she discards her soiled scrubs, Sakura pulls on one of Sasuke's old high-collared navy shirts with the Uchiha crest emblazoned on the back. It comes down to her knees and smells like him, so she can pretend that she's curled up beside him rather than alone in an empty bed.

* * *

Four hours later, Sakura is startled from sleep by the lurching of her stomach. She stumbles out of bed, staggering down the hallway to the bathroom. Her next half an hour is spent hugging the toilet and wondering what she did to deserve this. It may have had something to do with the chocolate onigiri.

Why did she eat that anyway? She can't quite remember, and as her stomach heaves again it doesn't seem to matter anymore.

After a while, her stomach finally settles enough for her to leave the shelter of the bathroom, and Sakura collapses back onto the bed. Four hours of sleep is not nearly enough after that shift. But just as she begins to get comfortable and the edges of unconsciousness tickle her brain, another uncomfortable sensation surfaces.

Growling, Sakura pushes herself off the bed and stomps back to the bathroom.

This is getting ridiculous.

* * *

A couple of weeks later, Sakura is having lunch at Ichiraku with Ino and Temari. Both blondes are staring at her as she devours her third bowl of ramen. Sakura pays them no mind, she is _starving_.

Ino slowly inches away from the ravenous medic. "Um, Forehead Girl, are you okay? You're eating like _Naruto_." Sakura practically growls back in response and waves at Teuchi for another bowl.

Temari looks on with amusement as Sakura starts on her fourth bowl. "Does she normally eat this much?" Ino shakes her head. "No, and I was with her yesterday so I know she's not coming off of one of her three day binge shifts at the hospital. She acts like she hasn't eaten in a week."

The sand-turned-leaf kunoichi recrosses her legs and rests her chin in the palm of her hand.

"Maybe she's pregnant."

Blue and green eyes snap to Temari, and Sakura's ramen hands from her chopsticks halfway to her mouth. She scoffs. "That's ridiculous, I'm not-" But then she remembers her constant queasiness and her increased need to use the bathroom lately. Sakura chews on her bottom lip and glances at Ino.

Ino raises an eyebrow and smirks. "You and Sasuke _have_ been rather _active_ lately, as I recall you telling me. Newlyweds going at it like rabbits."

Sakura flushes to the roots of her pink hair. "Yeah, but-"

The interrogation specialist laughs. "What did you think was going to happen?"

"I don't know," Sakura grumbles. She looks down at her unfinished ramen, suddenly feeling sick.

* * *

At the pharmacy, Ino is piling every different brand of pregnancy test into a hand basket. Sakura follows close behind, covering her face. Temari is behind her, reading the boxes curiously.

"Why are you even embarrassed, Forehead Girl?" Ino rolls her eyes in exasperation. "You did the deed with the hottest guy in the village, _multiple times I might add_, and you're married." She pauses for a minute. "Not that that last part matters, but the point is that you're a grown woman and there is nothing embarrassing about being pregnant."

Temari nods her agreement. Ino notices her holding a pregnancy test box in her hand and holds out the basket for her to throw it in. "Come on, we're gonna go check out."

Temari shakes her head hesitantly. "This one's...not for Sakura." Ino's eyes bug out of her head. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" The sand kunoichi scowls. "I don't think I am, but I'm a little late. I just want to be certain." Ino ignores this and waggles her eyebrows suggestively.

Sakura, getting impatient, grabs both of them by the arms and drags them to the checkout.

* * *

"I can't believe this."

"They're all pink. Better get used to the idea, Sakura. You're PREGGERS."

Sakura is on the verge of hyperventilating. Pregnant. She's _pregnant_. She's going to be a _mother_. And Sasuke-kun...he's going to be a _father_. She sinks to the floor, trying to absorb all of this. Ino and Temari sit down on either side of her, each of them holding one of her shaking hands. They glance at each other anxiously, waiting for her reaction.

It takes a moment, but finally a small smile appears, gradually growing into a full blown grin. "You guys, I'm gonna be a mom. Oh my god. This is really happening." She gently prods her still-flat stomach. Her hands are squeezed tight as all three of them shriek in excitement.

When they finally calm down, Ino asks, "When are you going to tell Sasuke? Are you going to send him a message?"

Sakura shakes her head. "I don't want to distract him while he's on a mission. He's supposed to be home in a couple of weeks, and I need time to figure out how to tell him anyway."

"What's there to figure out? Just yell 'SURPRISE' and hold up some baby booties." Ino flips her hair in absolute certainty.

Sakura is unconvinced. "That might work for most people, pig, but Sasuke lost his family in the worst way possible when he was young. I want this to be really special for him because he'll finally have a family again."

This reminder of Sasuke's past sobers them all.

They are silent for a few moments, lost in their thoughts, when Temari finally asks, "Do you hope it's a boy or a girl?" Sakura ponders the question, then finally shrugs. "A boy would make it easier to carry on the clan name, but I will be happy either way. And I think Sasuke-kun will be too."

Ino sniffs, blinking back tears. "My baby girl's all grown up."

They all laugh, and a minute later all three of them are crying in happiness.

* * *

Sakura takes deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves.

Sasuke is going to be home any minute, she sensed his chakra as he entered the village, and right now he's probably giving his report to Kakashi-sensei...err, Hokage-sama. She still doesn't know what to call him. She's made Sasuke's favorites for dinner: onigiri and sliced tomatoes (this time without the chocolate syrup).

According to Tsunade, she is four months along in her pregnancy now, and her normally flat, toned tummy is finally started to balloon out. Sakura smiles to herself as she cradles her small bulge in her plam, thinking of the happiness this child will bring.

The sound of the front door sliding open startles her out of her reverie and she drops the knife she was holding, impaling her foot. "Dammit," she curses. Carefully bending down to heal herself, she doesn't notice the tall figure enter the kitchen behind her.

"I'm so clumsy," she mutters to herself angrily.

"Hn. Yeah, you are," a deep voice chuckles next to her.

Sakura's head shoots up instantly. "SASUKE-KUN!" Her foot healed and now forgotten, she throws her arms around her husband's neck, tackling him to the floor in her enthusiasm. "Welcome home," she says, her face buried in his chest.

"Hn." His arms come up around her, one hand resting on the small of her back and the other twining in her hair as he kisses her forehead, and then her lips. The kiss is drawn-out and lingering, heating her body in a slow-burn. He sucks on her bottom lip and she nips at his.

After a few heated minutes, he breaks the kiss, holding her out away from him at arm's length by her shoulders, his face puzzled. "Are you wearing something around your waist?"

Sakura goes red. "Oh, um..." She sits back on her ankles so that he can see her protruding belly. Breathing in deep, she tells him.

"I'm pregnant."

Sasuke stares at her blankly, his eyes flitting from her face to her abdomen repeatedly. After a couple minutes of this, Sakura really starts to worry. "Sasuke-kun?" She waves a hand in front of his face and he finally snaps back to reality.

"You're...?"

She nods, smiling as tears spill down her cheeks. "You're going to be a father. We're going to be parents and we'll have a real family."

Sasuke stares at her incredulously. A tremulous smile turns up the corners of his mouth, and he pulls her in for a crushing hug, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

"Sakura, thank you," he tells her over and over again between kisses.

* * *

The next few months seem to pass by in a blur. Sasuke requests time off from Kakashi to help care for Sakura during the remainder of her pregnancy. It nearly drives Sakura insane.

She understands, she really does, because Sasuke is extremely overprotective of family, having lost his. But he _hovers_. He's there every time she sighs or groans, trying to help, but Sakura keeps explaining to him that this is how pregnancy goes, this is normal and there's nothing wrong with her.

But this doesn't matter to Sasuke, who continues to fluff her pillows and rub her feet, even when she's trying to sleep. It's sweet, and Sakura is not ungrateful or unappreciative, especially when he indulges her very strange food cravings (chocolate onigiri was only the beginning) and endures her wild and often violent mood swings.

"I'm a planet," she cries to him one night, and he holds her and tells her that she's beautiful.

When the day finally comes when her water breaks, Sasuke is an absolute mess. Sakura would find it funny that one of the most powerful and self-possessed shinobi in the world is reduced to

a panicked tizzy at the first sign of his wife going into labor, but her contractions are becoming painful and there's no more room in her head to think.

* * *

"Push, Sakura."

"DON'T TELL ME TO PUSH, YOU SMUG BASTARD. HAVING YOUR ARM BLOWN OFF IS NOTHING COMPARED TO THIS."

Sakura screws her eyes shut in pain and her teeth clench as she tries to push the baby out. She's practically grinding Sasuke's arm bones to dust with her death grip, but he endures it like a champ. Tsunade and Shizune are stationed between her legs, giving her advice and encouragement, but oh god it _hurts_.

Ino is there on her other side to brush the sweaty bangs out of her face and to snap at Sasuke when he tries to get in the way. He does often, demanding that they give her something for the pain, because he can't stand to see her suffering because of him. When Ino suggests that he go wait outside with Naruto and Kakashi, he glares at her.

Finally, the last big push comes, and Sasuke's eyes widen in panic as Sakura screams herself hoarse. The next screams he hears are those of his newborn daughter as she enters the world, wailing and red in the face. Her head is topped with a tuft of the dark Uchiha hair, but her set of lungs was definitely inherited from Sakura.

Tsunade allows him to cut the umbilical cord, and he retreats to Sakura's side as they clean the blood and fluids off of his daughter. He squeezes Sakura's hand, and she collapses back against the pillows, exhausted. He leans down to kiss her forehead. Shizune brings the newest Uchiha over and hands her to Sasuke, who accepts her hestitantly and with the greatest caution.

His world stops.

His line of sight is reduced to the child in his arms, tiny and soft and impossibly beautiful. Her eyes open and she regards him with large, curious eyes. Eyes that are the same color as his, inky black, but with all the innocence that his haven't held since he was a child. He forgets how to breath as her little arms reach up toward his face, clutching at his shirt.

He doesn't realize it, but tears are leaking from the corners of his eyes.

From the hospital bed, Sakura _glows_ as she watches the two most important people in her life meet. "Sasuke-kun?" she calls.

His head snaps toward her, his trance broken. Remembering that his daughter has two parents, he brings her to Sakura and lowers her gently to her mother's arms. Sakura cradles the little girl with reverence.

"What should we name her?" she asks softly.

Sasuke thinks for a moment.

"Uchiha Sarada."


	24. The Sanctity of Siblings

**Date:** Post-Canonization  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku  
**Prompt:** Brothers  
**Title:** The Sanctity of Siblings  
**Summary: **Sarada has a habit of getting into things she shouldn't, but that's not always a bad thing.  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Author's Note I:** Ugh. This took way too long to write and I'm not happy with it at all. But here it is, no refunds, returns, or exchanges.  
**Author's Note II:** My first time writing from the POV of a five year old. Gods of fanfiction help me. I may have written her a little advanced for a five year old. I haven't been five in twenty years and I don't spend any time around kids, so sorry if this is way off. :/

* * *

At five years old, Uchiha Sarada is a precocious child. She has her mother's smarts and her father's instincts. She devours books and basic jutsu with ease, and is already climbing walls and producing small katons (strictly forbidden in the house).

She is also intensely curious.

She's discovered several of her father's weapons caches, and when she was three, she terrified Sakura half to death when she walked in to find Sarada prying open the scabard of Sasuke's unattended chokuto.

There was another incident where Sarada discovered Sakura's anatomy textbooks, and at a family dinner with Sakura's parents she attempted to recite the male and female reproductive organs. She butchered most of the words, but enough were recognizable enough to have Haruno Kizashi roaring with laughter and earning Sakura and Sasuke an hour-long lecture from Mebuki.

It's not that Sarada is michievious or ill-behaved, she just wants to know _everything, _and she wants to know it _now_. She wants to be as smart as her parents, and it's not her fault that there's so much to learn.

* * *

Sarada is bored. Her papa is in a meeting with the Hokage, and mama is busy in the kitchen. Normally she'd want to help, but Sakura is making sweets, and Sarada turns her nose up at those (like another certain Uchiha). She sighs and wanders through the house, searching for something to do until Sasuke gets home.

She pauses momentarily in front of the back door, wondering if she should try some more shuriken throwing practice. But it's starting to rain, and mama and papa don't like her to do that by herself, so she moves on.

Down the hallway, Sarada finds her room and inspects its contents with the intensity of Sakura performing a complex surgery. Her books have all been read and her dolls' hair brushed. Her toys have all been neatly put away and her clothes folded; there is nothing for her to straighten or clean, and she wrinkles her nose at the idea of making another mess only to clean it up again.

Sighing, she continues on down the hall. Her parents' room is the next closest, and she peeks inside just to satisfy herself that there's nothing to do in there. A peek turns into making sure Sakura is still bustling in the kitchen before quietly sliding the door closed behind her as she tiptoes into the room.

* * *

Sasuke and Sakura's room is Sarada's favorite room in the whole house. She can't help but admire it because it's so _grown-up_. The decor is mostly catered to Sasuke's taste (Sakura has the rest of the house). The bed covers and the curtains are a deep navy blue with white trim. Their clan crest is artfully emblazoned on the fabrics, and the room always smells of her mama's perfume and the deep forest scent that clings to her papa's clothes.

The first thing Sarada's eyes are drawn to is the picture on her mother's nightstand. A younger verion of her mother smiles between her father (she giggles because he always looks grumpy) and Uncle Naruto. Behind them, Grandpa Scarecrow winks.

Hugging the picture frame to her chest, Sarada climbs onto her parents' bed. Legs dangling over the side, she traces mama and papa's faces with her finger tip. A smile unconsciously lights up her face as she studies the old photograph over and over again.

Time passes, and by the time Sarada hears Sakura calling her name from the kitchen, the shadows of late afternoon are crawling across the hardwood floor. She carefully lowers herself to the floor and gently places the picture back on the nightstand.

"Coming!" she hollers, but as she starts walking toward the door, she spots the closet door sitting wide open. She's slept in the bed with her parents on many occasions, but she's never seen the inside of their closet. It's a private place, she's been told, and she doesn't want to disappoint her mama and papa so she's ignored the temptation.

The flame of curiosity ignites in her now. The door is just sitting there wide open, and nobody will know if she just takes a small peek inside. Glancing behind her to make sure the bedroom door is still closed, Sarada slowly inches toward the open closet.

* * *

The inside is bigger than she thought. The closet is a walk-in, and her parents' clothes hang on either side of the room, with boxes of various weaponry stacked on the floor beneath. Sarada peers inside the boxes, fascinated by weapons she's only seen in books. But just as she goes to lift one, she notices another door at the back of the closet.

Mama is calling her from the kitchen again, but her insatiable need to know what's behind the door is too great.

The door creeks slightly as she carefully slides it open. The adjacent room is small and sparsely furnished, with only a small table sitting against the back wall. Two vases, one on each end of the table, hold fresh flowers. Unlit, but obviously used, candles are arranged artfully around two large framed photographs.

Standing on her tiptoes, Sarada examines each photograph, both of them in black and white. The one on the right shows a young man in his very early teens with long, dark hair pulled back, and deep tracks beneath his eyes. He looks so serious, and Sarada wonders what he was thinking about.

The second picture shows a family. The boy from the other photo is there, standing off to the right with furrowed brows. A beautiful woman with the same dark hair and eyes stands center frame. Her eyes are kind, and she looks happy to be standing amongst her family. A man, obviously her husband, stands by the left edge of the frame, looking bored. And between them...

* * *

"Sarada."

Startled, Sarada jumps a foot into the air. Nervously, she turns around to face her papa. She's been caught red-handed where she's not supposed to be, and now she's in trouble. Her nose scrunches in dismay. She _hates_ disappointing her papa.

But Sasuke doesn't say anything. He kneels down in front of her and pulls her in for a hug, and Sarada buries her face in the dark fabric of his cloak. She feels his chest rise and fall in a sigh, and she looks up as he gingerly lifts the framed photo of the young man. The grim line of his mouth tightens as he studies it.

"Papa? Who's that?" Sarada's fear of punishment vanishes as she sees the look on papa's face. He looks so _sad_, and she's never seen her papa sad before. It's a long moment before he finally answers.

"My older brother."

Sarada blinks. "Brother? You mean like how Boruto is Himawari-chan's brother?"

He nods. Sarada's forehead creases in perplexion. "But...how come I haven't met him?"

Sasuke's sigh is audible this time, and he stands, lifting her into his arms. He gazes at her with serious eyes, like she's a _grown-up_. Sarada waits with baited breath to hear about papa's brother.

But they are interrupted by Sakura's calls.

"Sarada? Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke responds with a "hn," and Sakura peeks her head into the closet. "Dinner's ready, what are you two doing in here?" She frowns at Sarada.

"Papa's gonna tell me about his brother." Even though she's shaking with anticipation on the inside, Sarada manages to keep a solemn expression.

Sakura glances at Sasuke with alarm, but he shakes his head. "She should know. Not all of it, but enough." Sakura purses her lips at this, but doesn't argue. Even though she helps to carry the weight of it, it's still his decision to make.

* * *

An hour later, the small Uchiha family sits together on the closet floor. Sakura's fingers are laced through Sasuke's, occasionally squeezing his hand and offering him silent reassurance. Sarada sits in his lap, trying to make sense of what she's just been told.

"So...Uncle Itachi did a lot of bad things. Does that make him a bad man?" She frowns, glasses sliding down her tiny nose.

Sakura gently pushes the glasses back up the bridge of her nose. "No, honey. Everything your uncle did, he did out of love for your papa. He had to make a lot of very difficult and horrible choices, but his heart was always pure."

Sarada accepts this, nodding in relief. Papa has been silent since he finished telling Itachi's tale, lost in the memories of his brother. "Papa?" Sasuke turns tired obsidian eyes to his daughter.

"Do you think Uncle Itachi would have liked me?" She bites her lip, afraid of the answer. But Sasuke smiles tiredly at her, reaching up to ruffle her hair. "He would have loved you. Your mother and I would probably never see you, he'd want to spend all of his time with you and teach you everything about being a shinobi."

Sakura has to turn away with tears in her eyes. Sasuke squeezes her hand. The small Uchiha family sits in silence for a few moments. Sarada squeezes in between her mama and papa, concentrating hard on an idea. Finally, she takes each of their free hands in hers.

"I have an idea," she announces. After making sure her parents are paying attention, she continues, "I think I should have a brother. And I also think we should name him after Uncle Itachi."

Seeing the nonplussed expressions on their faces, Sarada hastens to reassure them. "I'll take real good care of him! I'll always protect him and I'll teach him everything he needs to know, so you guys won't have to do a thing!"

She looks at them so earnestly that Sakura and Sasuke can't help but laugh. "Sweetheart," Sakura pulls her in for a hug, "even if we have another baby, there's no guarantee it would be a boy. You might end up with a sister." Sarada pouts stubbornly.

Chuckling, Sasuke pulls his girls against his chest. "Well, I'm willing to try," he says with a mischevious grin at his wife, who blushes furiously.

"You really mean it?!" Sarada bounces up and down in excitement. "Uncle Itachi would just love it, I know he would!"

Sakura laughs and plants a kiss on her nose. "Alright, let's try for little Itachi."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Thank you guys so much for being patient with me. I struggled a lot with this one, and got depressed because I wasn't able to finish it in a reasonable timeline. So I wrote other little things to try to get my mojo back. This one isn't anywhere near my best, but hopefully some of you will find it cute. I'm still absolutely planning on finishing these, so don't despair too much. I really don't think it will take me that long between prompts again. And **HOLY COW**** 100 REVIEWS.** I am floored. Thank you, every one of you, for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following. I hope it has been as worth it for you as it has been for me.


	25. The Sanctity of Siblings, part II

**Author's Note:** Hi guys! This is a suprise bonus chapter! An anonymous on tumblr asked me to write something where Sarada gets to see the ultrasound of a new sibling, so I decided to write this as a follow-up companion to _The Sanctity of Siblings_ (Chapter 24). Hope you enjoy!  
**Disclaimer:** Naruto, not mine since 1999.

* * *

"Mama, why do you need to see the doctor? Is there something wrong with the baby?"

Sarada halts the long strides of her parents, breaking their linked hands apart. Scowling heavily, she steps in front of Sakura and places her ear to her belly, listening intently for any sign of activity. Sakura smiles and runs her fingers through her daughter's hair reassuringly.

"The baby's fine, sweetheart, we're just going to get an ultrasound."

Hearing this, Sarada becomes even more confused. "We're going to Otogakure?" Sasuke chuckles. "No, Sarada, an ultrasound is a technology that lets us see the baby while it's still inside your mother, and even find out whether it's a boy or a girl."

Sarada's eyes go as wide as saucers behind her glasses. "We get to SEE him?! Why are we standing around then, let's gooo!"

Grabbing her parents hands, she pulls them along behind her at a jog.

* * *

As they enter the obstetrics ward of the hospital, Sakura is still trying to convince Sarada not to get her hopes up for a boy. But Sarada will not be swayed in her conviction that the baby growing inside Mama's tummy is a boy. He will be little Itachi, and as far as she's concerned, that's all there is to it.

One of the nurses, greeting Sakura with familiarity and warmth, ushers them into an empty room. Inside is a standard hospital bed, set to the recline position and covered with a white paper sheet. Sasuke helps Sakura into a sitting position on the bed, while Sarada inspects the strange computer next to the bed.

"What's this?" she asks, pointing to the screen.

Sakura pulls herself back onto the bed so she can lie back. "That's where we're going to see the baby." She beckons Sarada over and pulls her (in reality, one of Sasuke's) shirt up over the small mound of her belly, rubbing it gently. Sarada looks on with grave intensity as Sakura explains the process.

"The nurse is going to rub some cold gel on mama's belly, and then she's going to take this wand here," she gestures to a vaguely cone-shaped object attached to a thick cord, "and wave it over where the baby is. That will make a picture of the baby on the screen."

Sarada absorbs this information and frowns. "It won't hurt you or little Itachi will it?"

Sakura smiles and shakes her head. "No, sweetie. It will be cold and tickle a bit, but it won't hurt either one of us. I promise."

Satisfied, Sarada turns to Sasuke, who is leaning back against the wall with his eyes closed. "Papa, did you see me on the screen when I was in Mama's tummy?"

Smiling at the memory, he nods. Before Sarada can ask what she looked like, there is a knock at the door.

* * *

"Shizune!" The joy in Sakura's voice is palpable as she struggles to a sitting position. The older woman embraces her and smiles brightly. "I'm glad to see you in here again, Sakura. About time you started expanding your family." She winks.

"Shizune-san!" Sarada, who has visited Sakura at work quite often, is very familiar with the fifth Hokage's other former apprentice. Shizune kneels down to hug her as well, before holding her out for inspection.

"My, look how big you've gotten. You're almost a full-grown lady, aren't you?" Sarada's chest puffs out in pride as Sakura rolls her eyes and laughs. "That's right, I'm six now!"

"Six, huh? You'll be working here at the hospital with me and your mother in no time." Turning away, Shizune pulls on a pair of latex gloves. The clear gel soon coats Sakura's abdomen, and the computer screen flickers on to static as Shizune moves the wand over Sakura' s belly.

Sarada bounces up and down impatiently, ready to confirm her certainty that the baby is indeed a little brother. It takes a few more minutes before a fuzzy picture begins to form on the screen in black and white. Her breath catches as a small, moving baby-shaped blob becomes distinct.

"Is that...?" She asks tentatively. Shizune beams and nods. "That's your little brother or sister in there. And by the looks of it..." She inspects the image closely, and her smile turns into a full blown grin.

"It's a boy."

* * *

Sarada is too enthralled to gloat over her victory. She moves as close to the monitor as possible, hesitantly reaching toward the screen. Her face is full of wonder as she aligns her finger with the baby's tiny hand. A sudden motion causes her to jump.

"Did you see that?! He waved at me! Itachi waved at me!"

She turns back excitedly to her parents with a million-watt smile. Sakura is smiling and crying happy tears as Sasuke rests his hand on her shoulder, and he's also wearing a fiercely proud smirk.

Sarada turns back to the screen impatiently and waves back. She stands there for ten minutes, watching in awe as her little brother kicks and flails around. His heartbeat absolutely fascinates her. Eventually though, Shizune turns the machine off, and Sarada sighs in disappointment.

Sakura pats her head in understanding. "He's got a few more months of growing to do, and then we get to meet him. Are you excited?"

Sarada nods enthusiastically. "Will I get to hold him when he's born?"

Sakura glances at Sasuke, biting her lip. "You'll have to be very careful with him. As a baby, he'll be very fragile and could get hurt easily."

Sarada waves off her concern. "Don't worry, Mama. I'll be the best big sister ever, you'll see."

Holding her belly, Sakura smiles again. "I don't doubt that at all."


	26. Angel in the Agony

**Date:** Post-Canonization  
**Pairing:** SasuSaku  
**Prompt:** Heartbeat  
**Title: **Angel in the Agony  
**Summary: **When the pain rips him apart, she puts him back together.  
**Disclaimer: **Naruto, not mine since 1999.  
**Note I:** Because the genin days need love too. Based on the opening pages of chapter 50.  
**Note II: **Experimenting with style and punctuation. Shorter than usual.

* * *

Two tiny pin-pricks in the back of his neck. That's all it is.

That's all it takes to turn his blood to molten fire, burning him alive from the inside out. The point of contact is cold, so cold, so cold it's hotter than the sun. The freezing heat burns a path down his spine, branching out along his nerve pathways and consuming him whole.

He forgets who Sasuke is. He forgets what Uchiha is. There is no him, there is only a great black void of rippling agony tearing him apart and remaking him. He can't see can't feel can't hear, there is nothing _he_ is nothing he is _everything_ and it _hurts_, oh god it hurts ithurtsithurtsithurts-

MAKE IT STOP.

He should breathe. He needs to breathe. Why can't he breathe, _why isn't there any air_?! Pleasepleaseplease he needs to breathe, needs to live, HE NEEDS TO LIVE. There was a reason, he can't remember it through the fire, but he repeats it to himself over and over. LIVE. LIVE. LIVE. LIVE.

The harder he fights for cognizance, the stronger the pain becomes. Blindly, he reaches out for something, _anything_ to hold on to. _Anything to remind him that he is real and that this endless inferno is not all that he is or has ever been. _He is slipping farther and farther away, forgetting more, losing more, and the despair is almost as unbearable as the agony-

MAKE IT STOP.

Just as he is nearly gone, he finds the anchor.

What he thinks may once have been his hand grapples desperately, clinging to this beacon that he can't even see. He only knows that it's there, he can't let go, he musn't let go-

_-staywithmestaywithmestaywithme-_

Someone else's fingers fit perfectly between his, and he clutches at the lifeline with every shred of him that there is left. The flames begin to recede from his fingers, and he feels something new. It's faint, oh so faint, and he can't really be sure it's there.

Another searing bout of pain racks him, and he grasps the hand harder as he shakes and screams. His throat is so raw from screaming, he can taste blood. He feels himself sinking into the velvety blackness once again, breathlessly drowning, pleading with the everything and nothing that is left inside of him. The flames cauterize his vocal cords, paralyzing his cries-

MAKE IT STOP.

He's _fallingfallingfalling,_ and then someone is holding him and he feels _it_ again.

It's a pulse, he realizes, beating rapidly in time with his own. With massive effort, he pushes away his consciousness of his body's torture, focusing only on that hummingbird beat. The sensation trickles through the connection of their touching fingers, through their joined palms.

He sheds unconscious tears at the realization that he is still _here_, he is still _human_, and he is _not yet lost. _He needs to be _closer_, but his body spasms and writhes in the agony and he cannot move, he has no control. His wordless pleas begin again, the hope in his chest dying.

But he is pulled in by the pulse, and tears rain down on his face from above. It's all around him then, beating through the arms holding him, protecting him. They cling to him, wrapping him in a gentle warmth that draves away the insatiable flames inside of him.

Then the source of the pulse is right next to him, beating in his ears and filling him with the will to fight. He pushes back at the flames, allowing the pulse to echo through him. The beating is so loud that it drowns out the sound of his own blood roaring in his ears.

The hope and the light of that beating pulse clashes with the darkness destroying the inside of him, pulling him apart. He is tired, so tired, and even as the pulse becomes the focal point of his world, driving back the torment, he knows it's not defeated. It recedes into his veins, biding its time and eating away at him from the deepest recesses.

Finally, his body stills, and Sasuke lies there for a long time, just listening to the steady pulse. It calms him, soothes him, and when he lifts his heavy eyelids, he sees a blur of red and strands of pink.

Sakura.

As he fades into unconsciousness, he finally realizes what kept the darkness at bay.

Her heartbeat.

* * *

**author's note:** Hi guys. Still writing these, only 7 more to go. I know it's been longer between updates and I apologize. I have a lot of writing projects going on this month, and most of them will definitely be trickling down to you. I sincerely appreciate the metric ton of favorites/follows/and reviews that you guys have left me. Happy Holidays!


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